Berry Magazine - Winter 2017-18

BERRY Winter 2017-18

In command Jack Gregory (78C) flies Air Force career into NASA directorship

The best teacher she can be Lauren Mathis Pittman (09C) touts tech for great teaching

Faithful brew

J onathan Pascual (04C) blends Christian calling with hip coffee shop

VOL. 104, NO. 2 | WINTER 2017-18

BERRY 12 In command Jack Gregory (78C) flies Air Force career into NASA directorship

16 The best teacher she can be Lauren Mathis Pittman (09C) touts tech for great teaching

NASA photo / Ken Ulbrich

Features

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18 Faithful brew

20 More than meets the eye Student Emma Chambers sees future clearly despite visual challenges

Brant Sanderlin

Jonathan Pascual (04C) blends Christian calling with hip coffee shop

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33 Mountain Day 2017 in photos

Inside the Gate

• Sisters Theatre honors legacy of love • Hall of Fame lauds high school/academy athletes • Fall sports highlights include 10-0 regular season for football and much, much more • Innovation fund honors go-getter Bettyann O’Neill • 1940s: When the clock ruled at Berry

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Well Done!

10 President’s Essay

Viking athletics: The wow and the why

24 News from You

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student Matt McConnell

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Brant Sanderlin

Departments

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Class notes — The original social media

30 Thank You

21 The Campaign for Opportunity

• The PFM Effect: Pennies for Martha gets “super” support • Alumni meet, marry, give back to their alma mater

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U.S. Navy Blue Angels roar past the Ford Buildings in preparation for an October air show.

Photo by Brant Sanderlin Cover: NASA Photo / Ken Ulbrich

INSIDE THE GATE

magazine

Published three times per year for alumni and friends of Berry College and its historic schools Editor Karilon L. Rogers Managing Editor Rick Woodall (93C) Staff Writer Debbie Rasure Design and Production Shannon Biggers (81C) Chief Photographer Brant Sanderlin News from You and Gifts Listings Justin Karch (01C, 10G), Joni Kenyon, Jeff Palmer (09C, 11G) and Carrie Rigdon Contact Information News from You: classnotes@berry.edu

Legacy of love

Brant Sanderlin

BERRY

Sisters Theatre brings new opportunities for students

Change of address: 706-236-2256; 800-782-0130; alumni@berry.edu; or Berry Alumni Office, P.O. Box 495018, Mount Berry, GA 30149.

FINE ARTS

BERRY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION President: Frances Richey (83A, 87C)

PROGRAM

President-Elect: Jonathan Purser (85C)

FALL with the

Vice Presidents: Alumni Events, Julie Patrick Nunnelly (88C, 00G); Berry Heritage, the Rev. Valerie Loner (91C); Financial Support, Jason McMillan (98C); Young Alumni and Student Relations, Samantha Knight Tuttle (11C); Alumni Awards, Patricia Tutterow Jackson (82C) Chaplain: Clara Hall McRae (60C) Parliamentarian: Robert Aiken (82A) Secretary: Mandy Tidwell (93C) Historian: Dr. Jennifer Dickey (77A, 80C) Director of Alumni Development Jennifer Schaknowski Vice President of Marketing and Communications Nancy Rewis Vice President of Advancement Cyndi Court President Stephen R. Briggs

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A NEW ERA IN BERRY’S

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2017-18

DAWNED LAST

Seamus Bourne

Editorial: rwoodall@berry.edu; 706-378-2870; or Berry magazine, P.O. Box 490069, Mount Berry, GA 30149.

Brant Sanderlin

A scene from Crimes of the Heart

dedication of Sisters Theatre, a 9,226 squarefoot addition to Blackstone Hall that opens up a world of opportunity for students in the dramatic arts. The name honors the love shared by project champion Audrey Morgan and her late sister, Dr. M. Bobbie Bailey.

“I was very blessed to have as my sister Bobbie Bailey,” Morgan said at the Oct. 6 dedication. “Our lives as sisters and best friends were entwined for 85 years; our names as business partners entwined for 55 years. And now with this beautiful new theatre on the Berry campus that I love so much, our names are going to be entwined for years to come.

Tonight is truly a mountaintop experience for me. I could not be happier or

more honored.”

The emo­tional dedication ceremony brought down the curtain on the two-year Blackstone Challenge, launched

by Morgan in 2015 to improve and enhance Berry’s theatre facilities. Her initial $1 million gift was matched a year later by a second $1 million commitment from the Bobbie Bailey Foundation. Their generosity inspired others, resulting in nearly $5 million in additional gifts to fund the theatre and associated updates to Blackstone Hall.

Fittingly, the first Berry production in the new theatre was Crimes of the Heart, a story about sisters. Faculty and

students alike raved about their new black-box performance space, which includes balcony seating and room for up to 276 patrons, depending on the needs of a particular play.

Complementing the new facility are enlarged and updated production areas in Blackstone, essentially doubling the amount of functional space available to the theatre program.

“There is such an opportunity in the new space for students and faculty to learn and grow while practicing our craft,” said Director of Theatre Anna Filippo. “With the new technology, the ability to configure the theatre seating and the fresh new look, Berry College theatre can offer students valuable training to take them to their first jobs and through their careers. We are truly grateful to everyone who has helped make this happen.”

photos by Brant Sanderlin

Hall of Fame spotlights high school and academy athletes

photos by student photographer Jacob Bushey

GUESTS FROM AS FAR AWAY AS CALIFORNIA GATHERED MOUNTAIN DAY WEEKEND to celebrate the induction of 110 athletes, coaches and administrators into the Berry High School and Academy Sports Hall of Fame, a new addition to the Cage Center’s Dickey Hall of Sports History. The permanent display includes a list of all inductees, recognition of notable teams, and an interactive kiosk featuring photos and information about those honored.

The induction ceremony – attended by more than 400 alumni and friends – was the culmination of a longtime dream of Bob Williams (62H), who championed the creation of a Hall of Fame to honor athletic achievement during Berry’s high school/academy era. Williams was one of several alumni and former staff members from those years who served on the committee charged with establishing recognition criteria, identifying potential honorees and researching their accomplishments. That group included Jack Pigott (69A), Jerry Shelton (58C, FFS), Bill Thornton (68C, FFS) and Harry Wise (57H); others with ties to Berry’s former high schools served in a consulting role.

Documentation was culled from a wide variety Championship Tradition of sources, including the Berry College Archives, Student-athletes representing local media, yearbooks and the nominees Berry’s former high schools won themselves. Information available on Pigott’s five team championships and unofficial high school/academy website, numerous individual crowns in the berryacademy.com, also proved extremely valuable.

Georgia High School Association.

“It was a labor of love for a lot of these folks, State championship teams including myself,” said Berry Athletic Director included: Todd Brooks, the committee chair. “You can’t be • 1967 Boys Cross Country around them and not have an appreciation for • 1969 Boys Cross Country what was accomplished. I think it was time for • 1975 Girls Cross Country recognition. They have been a big part of our history.”

• 1978 Girls Track and Field Brooks said the interactive display will continue • 1979 Girls Track and Field to be enhanced in future years as new details are Read more about these teams provided to Dr. Jennifer W. Dickey (77A, 80C), and see a list of Hall of Fame project curator. Planning is currently underway for inductees at berryacademy.com/ similar recognition of Berry’s college athletes.

BerryAthletics.html.

Splendor restored FROST MEMORIAL CHAPEL’S STAINED-GLASS ALTAR WINDOWS WERE RESTORED to their original

glory last summer through the inspiration and generosity of the Georgia Daughters of the American Revolution School Committee and Regent Joyce Patton.

The windows, depicting the life of Christ, were given to the college in 1953 by the Georgia State Society DAR in memory of the “boys of the Berry Schools” who died in World War II. “These windows have been on our historic preservation project wish list for some time,” said Scott Breithaupt (91C, 96G), Berry’s DAR representative and assistant vice president for campaign and leadership giving.

“When Mrs. Patton called to say she and the Georgia Daughters wanted to fund the restoration, we were thrilled. Their gift ensures the protection of one of the most sacred and beautiful places on campus.”

Dr. Jennifer W. Dickey (77A, 80C), Berry’s campus preservationist and a history professor at Kennesaw State University, led the five-month project completed by Jeff Loose of Studio Glass Company. Work included removing, cleaning and repairing cracks in each section of glass; replacing lead rods used to hold the glass together; and replacing the exterior covering.

The project is expected to extend the life of the windows another 30 to 40 years.

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2017-18

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INSIDE THE GATE

go Vikings!

student photographer Matt McConnell

Perfection

HOW DO YOU BUILD ON A SPARKLING 9-1 RECORD and your first-ever Southern Athletic Association championship? If you’re Berry’s football Vikings, you successfully defend your conference crown while finishing a perfect 10-0 in the regular season, then punctuate the year by reaching the second round of the NCAA Division III national playoffs!

The Vikings thrilled 2,381 fans at Valhalla in the first round of the playoffs with a 34-20 defeat of Huntingdon College before falling 29-13 in a hard-fought game at St. Thomas of Minnesota to close the best season in program history. The team’s final record of 11-1 continued an upward trend for the program, which has seen its win total increase every season since its inception. The Vikings are an impressive 27-5 since 2015, including a 15-1 mark on Williams Field at Valhalla.

“There have been a lot of special moments over the first five seasons of Berry football,” said Tony Kunczewski, Coach of the Year for the conference and region. “One of the best moments for me was watching the way our guys competed with one of the elite programs in NCAA Division III up in Minnesota.”

Twenty Vikings, including two-time SAA Defensive Player of the Year Mamadou Soumahoro, earned All-Conference recognition along with Kunczewski after a dominating regular season in which the team swept 10 opponents by an average of nearly 19 points per game. Soumahoro, a senior biology major, also achieved AllAmerica status for the second consecutive season and was named D3football.com National Defensive Player of the Year.

Mamadou Soumahoro

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BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2017-18

Sara Leimbach (17C)

10-0 regular season leads to first-ever postseason bid for Berry football

All-Americans lead volleyball to new heights in 2017

student photographer Lindsey Campbell

Vardy wins 200th for Berry

LONGTIME COACH RICHARD VARDY REACHED A CAREER Berry men’s soccer. He finished the year with an overall record of 204-89-21 across his 16 seasons as head coach. Highlights during that time include several conference and region championships, as well as backto-back appearances in the NAIA national semifinals (2003 and 2004) and a thrilling first-round victory over Emory University in the 2014 NCAA Division III national tournament.

student photographer Matt McConnell

MILESTONE last fall with his 200th victory at the helm of

Two runners advance to nationals

TWO MEMBERS OF THE WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY TEAM, seniors Alainna Chretien and Abby Carroll, qualified for nationals last fall with top-12 finishes in the South/ Southeast Region. In the process, the All-Conference and All-Region performers joined alumni Ryan James (14C) and Danielle Patterson (16C) in a select group of four Berry runners to reach the highest level of NCAA Division III cross country competition.

A trio of All-Americans powered Berry’s volleyball team to new levels of success last fall. With Hannah Kate Thompson, Carson VanCampen and Emily Hancock leading the charge, the Vikings posted a 30-7 record and reached an NCAA Division III regional final for the first time in program history. The team also became the first in Southern Athletic Association history to finish unbeaten in conference play.

In addition to her All-America recognition, Thompson also earned Southern Athletic Association Player-ofthe-Year honors. The senior nursing major finished her career ranked in the top five among Berry’s all-time assist leaders.

The season was chock full of highlights, including a first-ever victory over rival Emory University, a three-match sweep of the SAA tournament in the Cage Center, and wins over Hanover College and Covenant College in the NCAA Division III Atlanta Regional, the last in thrilling come-from-behind fashion.

“We were proud to win the SAA regular-season and tournament titles and represent Berry at the NCAA regional championship,” said Caitlyn Moriarty (14G), Coach of the Year for both the SAA and the South Region of the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

“In the offseason, our team committed to getting better physically and growing closer as a unit; it’s special to see how focusing on the process can help you accomplish your ultimate goals.”

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2017-18

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INSIDE THE GATE

BERRY PEOPLE Allen is newest Berry trustee DR. SHEILA W. ALLEN, SENIOR ACCREDITATION ADVISOR FOR THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN VETERINARY MEDICAL

Robert Newcomb

COLLEGES, is Berry’s newest trustee. She also serves on the boards of Cornell University and the Georgia Aquarium.

Allen holds undergraduate and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degrees from Cornell University; she also earned a Master of Science degree in veterinary clinical pathology from the University of Georgia while performing a surgical residency there. She joined Sheila W. Allen UGA’s College of Veterinary Medicine faculty in 1986 and later served as associate dean for academic affairs and dean of the college.

During her 11-year tenure as dean, Allen was active with the AAVMC as a member of the Board of Directors and Government Affairs and Leadership committees. She also served as chair of the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Council of Education and was appointed to a committee within the National Research Council of the National Academies to assess current and future workforce needs in veterinary medicine.

In her current role, she works with the AVMA’s Council on Education to monitor compliance with accreditation standards for 49 colleges of veterinary medicine worldwide.

Court is new advancement VP IN LATE SEPTEMBER, PRESIDENT STEVE BRIGGS ANNOUNCED

De’Vaughn Harris © the Consulting Firm

THE APPOINTMENT OF CYNTHIA COURT as vice president of advancement, filling the position vacated by Bettyann O’Neill upon her December 2017 retirement. Court came on board full time in January after spending several months working with O’Neill to ensure a seamless transition in the areas of alumni relations, development and philanthropic communications, including Berry Cynthia Court magazine.

Court’s extensive background includes service as chief marketing and development officer for Special Olympics International, Washington, D.C.;

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BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2017-18

executive vice president for development and marketing for Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Atlanta; and group vice president for personal giving for the Arthritis Foundation, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta.

She came to Berry from Harvard Group International, an executive search firm for which she established a highly successful nonprofit practice and served as its managing director. In that role, Court acted as Berry’s consultant on the successful search for a new vice president of marketing and communication, Nancy Rewis, and later provided an analysis of the college’s advancement needs in the years ahead. In the course of that evaluation, her fit with Berry became clear to all involved.

“Sometimes the pieces of a puzzle fall into place in a marvelously unexpected way,” said Briggs. “In Cyndi we have a seasoned professional who brings a fresh perspective to the advancement office and with whom we already have been working for more than a year through her role at HGI. Cyndi is the ideal person to lead our advancement team and build on the last decade of success.”

Women’s lacrosse gets new coach BRITTNI DULANEY IS THE NEW HEAD COACH OF WOMEN’S LACROSSE, succeeding the program’s inaugural coach, Shaun Williamson, who is now working to establish a new program at Ashland University.

Dulaney came to Berry from Shorter University, where she built the women’s lacrosse program from scratch in 201011. She was National Women’s Lacrosse League Coach of the Year in 2011 and NCAA Division II Gulf South Conference Coach of the Year in 2017.

In 2016, she earned her MBA from Brittni Dulaney Shorter.

The Rome native played prep lacrosse at Darlington School before excelling collegiately at NCAA Division I Presbyterian College, where she earned Rookie-of-the-Year and Most-Valuable-Offensive-Player-ofthe-Year honors and twice was co-captain of the National Lacrosse Conference All-Tournament Team.

Honoring a go-getter Bettyann O’Neill Innovation Fund

REVOLUTION IN FUNDRAISING AND ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT at Berry, you have to think outside the box. Whatever you do has to be innovative, and it absolutely must benefit students.

Nothing else would do justice to the individual who built and led the teams responsible for raising more than $235 million in gifts to the college since 1999, including $65 million for student scholarships.

The answer is the Bettyann O’Neill Innovation Fund, which exceeded $90,000 in less than two months as alumni, colleagues and friends rushed to honor the recently retired vice president for advancement. Going forward, the fund will be used to nurture innovative thinking, problem-solving and the ability to transition ideas into action in students of all majors. Earnings from the endowment will provide seed money or venture capital to students interested in starting or expanding for-profit or nonprofit businesses or enterprises.

O’Neill retired in December after 23 years at Berry. In 1999, she was challenged by then-President Scott Colley to lead Berry’s advancement division into a new era, which she enthusiastically did. Her efforts helped transform Berry’s physical campus through the addition of a new science center, theatre, animal science lab, stadium, athletic/recreation center and more, while also funding programmatic advances that include the college’s new entrepreneurship center and the Berry Center for Integrity in Leadership.

The honorary alumna also introduced many new friends to Berry and can be credited with significant alumni outreach and engagement initiatives, including the launch of Berry magazine and student mentoring programs. It is no surprise that the Georgia Education Advancement Council presented O’Neill with its Lifetime Achievement Award shortly before her retirement.

o va t i v e I de

l940S in time

When the clock ruled at Berry

IF YOU WANT TO HONOR THE WOMAN WHO LED A

Inn

SNAPSHOT

as

WHAT WERE YOU DOING AT 5:30 A.M. AS A BERRY STUDENT? Most will emphatically answer: “Sleeping!” But if you were inside the (locked-at-night) Gate of Opportunity in the 1940s, you were awake and ready to start your very structured day. Ugh! Don’t misunderstand. Today’s Berry students lead very busy lives as they strive to balance class schedules, student work, and service and faith initiatives with a good amount of camaraderie and fun. It isn’t easy, and time management is of the essence. But compara­ tively speaking, the student schedule of the ’40s was much more strict and unyielding – call it more rigid – than anything experienced in the decades since. rchives A e leg The 1941-42 student Berry Col urtesy of photos co handbook, Daily Schedule of Bells, outlined the student-life timetable. Breakfast was served at 6:15 Monday through Saturday, and student rooms had to be ready for inspection by 8, with beds made, closets neat, and furniture and floors well-dusted. Morning classes were followed by chapel at 11:30 and lunch at 12:15. Supper was served at the stroke of 6, after which a quiet hour of study was observed. Women had to be in bed by 11; the men had no prescribed time to hit the sack.

Things loosened up on Sundays – sort of. Students “slept in” until 6:30 and had breakfast at 6:55. (6:55!?) Mandatory Sunday school began at 9:30 and church at 11. But then came the highlight of the week: “Sunday calling” at the Ford Quadrangle. Men and women met at the main archway at 2 and were free to enjoy each other’s company on the green or in one of the living rooms – but only until 5 and only with proper chaperoning. Romance blossomed despite the limited “courting” time; the 1940s classes produced their fair share of “Berry couples.”

Editor’s Note: The information for this article was taken from Berry College: A History by Dean of Academic Services and Professor of Business Administration Emerita Dr. Ouida Word Dickey (50C) and Provost Emeritus Dr. Doyle Mathis (58C).

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2017-18

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The Princeton Review logo used with permission. ©2018 TPR Education IP Holdings, LLC. The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University.

WELL DONE!

Brant Sanderlin

More compliments? Don’t stop!

IF A COLLEGE COULD BLUSH FROM HIGH PRAISE, BERRY WOULD BE BEET RED. That’s because one national publication after another has pointed out one or more of the school’s superlatives.

Berry recently headlined Times Higher Education’s list of the 10 most beautiful universities in the U.S., while Southern Living listed the school among the South’s most beautiful colleges. At the same time, Expedia ranked Berry among 15 institutions notable for their physical beauty as well as the beauty of campus life, including extracurricular activities, school spirit, community outreach and the allure of the local area.

Money also got into the act, including Berry among 46 high-value schools where students have a good chance of landing significant meritbased scholarships. And The Princeton Review’s book, The Best 382 Colleges – which features only 15 percent of all four-year colleges – gave Berry high marks for campus beauty, academic rigor and a strong sense of community. Remarks noted Berry’s commitment to developing students’ head, heart and hands; impeccable faculty; and opportunities for hands-on experience in almost any area of study.

big

Thinking

EXPERIENCE WITH LARGE ANIMALS – cows, horses and sheep – is a key strength of Berry’s animal science program. But junior Robert Stilz found a way to take even the Berry experience up a notch – a BIG notch – when he spent a week last summer tending to rescued elephants at a sanctuary in northern Thailand and learning from a veterinary elephant expert.

One of two Berry students who traveled to the Asian nation through the Loop Abroad veterinary study-abroad organization, Stilz also volunteered for a week at a shelter for abused or abandoned dogs. All in all, he says the experience was one big “opportunity of a lifetime!”

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BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2017-18

Fabelhaft!

MEGAN PETROVICH (17C) is the latest Berry graduate selected for the U.S. Teaching Assistantship Program of the Board of Education in Austria, which is facilitated by Fulbright Austria. She is spending a year teaching English in Vienna before beginning graduate school in Munich, Germany. A German-language exam is required for acceptance into her graduate program, and the Berry German major passed with flying colors.

Extending leadership

World changers BRIN ENTERKIN (12C) AND JESSICA PARKER NUNAN (01C) ARE MAKING SERIOUS WAVES

Schools at all levels across the state of Georgia are now benefitting from the same fine leadership Berry’s Charter School of Education and Human Sciences has enjoyed for two decades. Dean Jackie McDowell has been appointed by Gov. Nathan Deal to the state’s 18-member Professional Standards Commission, which is charged with setting and applying guidelines for the preparation, certification and continued licensing of all public educators.

McDowell is one of only two members of the PSC representing higher education. She also is president of the Rome-Floyd County Commission on Children and Youth and serves on the Executive Committee for the Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges for Teacher Education.

with their efforts to change the world.

Enterkin (left) has been named to Forbes’ “30 under 30” list of social entrepreneurs for her work transforming the education system in Uganda from a curriculum that focuses on rote memorization to an interactive approach that increases critical and creative thinking. The Active Learning Project was developed through local input and partnership with the government. While a student at Berry, Enterkin founded The African SOUP, a nonprofit organization that works to create long-term, sustainable solutions to poverty through community-driven impact.

Nunan (right) is one of the most outstanding Georgians under the age of 40, according to Georgia Trend, which annually honors 40 of the state’s young “best and brightest.” She is executive director of Caminar Latino, Georgia’s first and only comprehensive domestic-violence intervention program for Latino families. She also shares the voice of the Latino community through service on a Sesame Street advisory committee and facilitates a group for Latino youth who have witnessed violence.

Commander-in-leaf WHEN DANA PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY MARTIN CIPOLLINI TALKS ABOUT THE COMEBACK OF CHESTNUT TREES in this country, people listen.

And that includes President Jimmy Carter, honorary director of The American Chestnut Foundation. Both men took part in last summer’s dedication of The American Chestnut Foundation Demonstration Orchard at The Carter Center in Atlanta, with Cipollini speaking as scientific coordinator of the Georgia Chapter of TACF. For more than a decade, Cipollini and his students have been at the center of efforts in Georgia to restore the American chestnut, which was devastated by blight in the early 20th century. In that time, they have coordinated the planting of more than 9,000 potentially blight-resistant American-Chinese hybrid trees at approximately 200 sites statewide, including several orchards at Berry that produce seedlings for TACF’s breeding program.

Brant Sanderlin

Notable nursing

IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE ONE OF BERRY’S 26 NEWEST NURSING GRADUATES, two great things are true for you: You passed the National Council Licensure Examination AND acquired a terrific position in your chosen field.

Graduates in the class of 2017 now hold nursing positions in such areas as organ transplantation, oncology, neonatal intensive care and bariatric surgery, as well as slots in the surgical nursing residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the nurse practitioner program at Georgetown University. As Director and Assistant Professor of Nursing Pam Dunagan put it: “It’s a great day to be a Berry nurse!”

The nursing faculty is equally stellar. Assistant Professor of Nursing Rebecca Logan was one of 12 neonatal nurses nationally chosen to present at the 2017 National Association of Neonatal Nurses Research Summit.

Congrats, congrats, congrats

FIRST, THIRD, SECOND, FOURTH … the list of national awards won last fall by Department of Communication students and the student-run multimedia website Viking Fusion goes on and on and on.

In the College Broadcasters Inc. National Student Production Awards, Berry senior Eric Jackson and alumnus Chris Scott (17C) won Best Vodcast for the short film Me and My Camera, while entries of the Narrative Video Production class placed second and fourth in their respective categories. Another Viking Fusion production, Jude, claimed a fourth-place award.

In the College Media Association’s Pinnacle Awards, submissions by the Visual Journalism class earned second- and third-place honors in one category, while Me and My Camera was second in another. Viking Fusion won four additional awards in the CMA 2017 Film Festival, including a first in the Creative Film Category.

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PRESIDENT’S ESSAY

VIKING ATHLETICS:

Dr. Stephen R. Briggs

The Wow!

t’s a banner year when an athletic team wins its conference championship, but it’s a truly marvelous triumph when the team goes undefeated in conference play. In 2017, not one but three Berry varsity teams “ran the table” in this way in the highly competitive Southern Athletic Association.

In each case, the formula for success included an outstanding team, a most valuable player and a remarkable coach.

I

THE TEAMS

En route to a 17-0 record in regularseason conference play, the softball team outscored opponents 117-23 overall and was ranked No. 1 in the nation for three weeks last spring. Prior to the NCAA Division III tournament, the team lost only twice and finished the year 40-4. Four Vikings received All-Region honors.

The volleyball team went 14-0 in regularseason conference play, winning 42 of 46 sets in the process. Overall, the team finished 30-7, earned its first No. 1 regional ranking and played in its first NCAA regional final. Three Vikings earned All-America recognition.

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The football team outscored SAA opponents 284-118 to earn an 8-0 conference record. It won its first national playoff game – held in our own Valhalla stadium – and was 11-0 before a loss in the second round of the Division III playoffs. The Vikings achieved a No. 15 national ranking with three players earning All-Region awards.

THE MVPs

In softball, Marie Collop was named SAA Pitcher of the Year and tournament MVP. She posted a 15-2 record with a conferencebest 1.07 ERA, striking out 98 batters. A double-threat, she also led the SAA in RBIs for the year (49), hitting .375 with eight home runs. Collop is the first second-team AllAmerican in program history and was selected as one of the top 25 softball players in the nation, competing for the 2017 Schutt Sports/NFCA Division III Player of the Year honor.

Hannah Kate Thompson is the first volleyball Viking to earn second team AllAmerica honors in Division III, with more than 2,000 career assists. This season alone, she had 1,103 assists. She was named SAA Player of the Year and SAA tournament MVP and earned a spot on the NCAA Atlanta Regional All-Tournament team.

For the second straight season, Mamadou Soumahoro was selected as a first-team football All-American and a finalist for the Cliff Harris Award, which is presented to the nation’s top small-college defensive player.

During the 2017 season, he had 14 sacks, 15 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, four batted passes, two blocked kicks and a career-best 57 tackles. Soumahoro was named SAA Defensive Player of the Year for the second time, and D3football.com crowned him National Defensive Player of the Year.

THE COACHES

Cori Thiermann (softball), Caitlyn Moriarty (14G) (volleyball) and Tony Kunczewski (football) each were named SAA Coach of the Year this past year. For Thiermann, it was the fourth time in five seasons. Moriarty and Kunczewski also earned Regional Coach of the Year honors.

Thiermann has coached the softball team since its first season in 2010, building it into a powerhouse. Her teams have won five consecutive SAA regular-season championships and three consecutive SAA tournament championships. In the last three years, the Vikings have been 52-4 in regularseason conference play and 113-20 overall.

In just her second year as head coach, Moriarty led the volleyball team to 30 wins, a program-best total in the NCAA era. Her teams have excelled in blocking, ranking first in Division III in blocks-per-set (2.73) in the 2016 season. In these two years, the Vikings were 24-4 in regular-season conference play and 53-17 overall.

Kunczewski started Berry’s football program in 2013, leading it to success by 2015. In the last three years, the Vikings have been 21-3 in the SAA and 27-5 overall, and they brought home the conference championship the last two years. They have lost at Valhalla only once.

VIKING ATHLETICS:

The Why ll of this recent success at Berry has been great fun – for students, alumni and friends alike. It’s easy to focus on the wow in our sports-enamored culture, but do we make too much of winning teams?

Media coverage of our nation’s top universi­ ties focuses almost exclusively on athletics, but the allure of championships seemingly has little to do with the central purpose or values of an educational institution.

A

A CONTEXT FOR PARTICIPATION

Berry values athletics for both the exceptional growth experience it provides to gifted student-athletes and the opportunity it offers the campus community to enjoy the drama and art of athletic competition. It’s part of an education of the head, heart and hands – not more valuable than other aspects of a residential community, but an important piece of the whole.

Part of the appeal of a residential college like Berry is the opportunity for firsthand experience, and NCAA Division III encourages robust levels of participation.

Approximately one-quarter of Berry students – and as much as one-third of the entering class – are part of a varsity team.

By scheduling most games on weekends, the SAA minimizes missed classes for athletes and keeps the campus alive and interesting. But going to games is more than mere entertainment. Students cheer for the person they sit next to in class or know from their residence hall, and the athletes are grateful to see friends and faculty mentors on the sidelines and in the stands. It’s personal and deepens our sense of community.

A CONTEXT FOR LEARNING

The desire to win is part of our nature and not unique to sports, but for many young people sports provide a learning context that is intrinsically engaging and amazingly effective.

Consider the benefits. Competitive success instills a thirst for excellence and requires the mastery of core skills. Mastering a skill demands a disciplined work ethic and the ability to manage time and distractions.

In addition, an athlete must learn to be adaptable and responsive in fluid situations as the needs of a teammate or the actions of an opponent may call for resourcefulness and creativity beyond what was anticipated.

All in all, competitive athletic programs foster “self-efficacy” – the competence and confidence to complete a task and achieve a goal despite difficulties. In this way, sports participation is a context for learning in much the same way as a work environment or juried musical performance. On top of that, there are the lifelong benefits of learning to participate as part of a highperformance team.

HIGH EXPECTATIONS

Some say that athletic competition builds character. If we are honest, we know it is more complicated than that. The desire to win is a good thing if kept in perspective, but the craving to win can promote a style of play that is dishonest, destructive and demeaning.

The role of a coach is to provide perspective and establish the culture of a team. At Berry, we believe coaches (and all staff) are first and foremost educators.

While the Department of Athletics has a goal to be in the top-third of the SAA overall with each sport contributing dependably to that success, it has equally high expectations in other areas.

Coaches must recruit talented, successful student-athletes and be committed to their life success. We want student-athletes to graduate from Berry even if they choose not to compete all four years. We are proud that 267

Vikings were academic SAA Honor Roll recipients last school year alone.

Volleyball MVP Hannah Kate Thompson completed the rigorous nursing curriculum her last two years, including daylong clinical experiences in the hospital. She was able to balance academic and athletic demands because her coach and nursing faculty cared about her personal and professional success.

In a similar way, football MVP Mamadou Soumahoro and Tristen Cline, a team captain, both lived up to the challenging Gate of Opportunity work expectations while majoring, respectively, in biology and dual-degree engineering. Cline, an All-Region player, is now working on the engineering part of his dual-degree program and will graduate with two bachelor’s degrees.

As importantly, coaches must shape the culture and character of a team by encouraging athletes to better the campus and local community, to become contributing citizens off the court or field.

Across all sports there are numerous examples, but consider two. The softball Vikings partnered with Special Olympics last season, with MVP Marie Collop helping to plan the team’s silent auction, which raised more than $2,800 for the charity. For its part, the volleyball team developed a mentoring program with at-risk students from West Central Elementary School.

Why athletics? The Viking program strengthens the campus community and is a winning strategy for developing the whole person.

“Whether at work or at play, do your best.” It’s the Berry way. B Volleyball Vikings serve in the community.

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In com Air Force Col. Jack I. Gregory pilots an F-16B as it is refueled mid-air over the Pacific during a test mission.

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mmand

by KARILON L. ROGERS

When Jack I. Gregory Jr. (78C) entered Berry’s Gate of Opportunity in 1975 as a transferring sophomore, he was eyeing a career in veterinary medicine. Instead, he found his way into the cockpit of a fighter jet, a seat in the White House situation room and a leadership role at NASA. And that’s just part of his story.

U

nlike many young boys in the 1960s, Jack Gregory never once dreamed about joining NASA as an astronaut.

Maybe he missed too much of the hoopla surrounding the Apollo program in the U.S. while living on a military base in Germany.

Or perhaps he’d already found a hero in his father and knew deep down he’d follow the future four-star general’s jet stream straight into a career with the Air Force. Regardless, the longtime F-16 command pilot, instructor and aerial show demonstrator – who also served the Secretary of Defense as a Middle East policy officer – still found a niche at NASA, joining the agency in 2014 as director of mission support for the Armstrong Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base in California.

The retired full-bird colonel never anticipated such a move because, as he put it, “The theme of my career is that nothing I ever did was something I expected to do.” But it is certainly not surprising that he would be entrusted with such a responsibility-laden position after providing exemplary service in each of his 18 active-duty assignments with the Air Force. Still, in

order to be approved for the role after being selected by NASA, he had to pass stringent leadership muster and be appointed to the Senior Executive Service of the United States. Members of the SES serve in key federal government positions just below the top presidential appointees.

At Armstrong, Gregory is charged with ensuring that the facility’s complex operations run smoothly by overseeing a myriad of functions that might sound mundane for a man who flies faster than Mach 2: procurement, facilities, human resources, logistics and the like. But considering the projects he supports, words like “humdrum” and “boring” could never be used to describe his work.

Take the QueSST quiet supersonic technology project (below), which will make supersonic passenger travel over land possible by reducing the sonic boom that occurs when planes fly faster than the speed

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NASA’s robotic Global Hawk can fly at altitudes above 60,000 feet in support of earth science missions.

AFB in Germany, was one of just four pilots selected to lead his unit’s transition from the F-4 to the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Timing was good once again.

“I was at the right point of experience and had the good fortune to be named Pilot of the Year the year before,” he said. “It was an honor. The F-16 was the latest and greatest – the Corvette of fighter aircraft and incredibly comfortable to fly.”

WILD BLUE YONDER

of sound. Or consider the X-57 Maxwell all-electric plane, which aims to produce zero in-flight carbon emissions while increasing highspeed cruise efficiency by 500 percent.

“Edwards is perfect for this work,” Gregory stated, “because the air space around it is so restricted. We can test aircraft with no conflict with general aviation traffic, and people around the air base are used to daily sonic booms.”

Armstrong has been NASA’s primary center for atmospheric flight research and operations for more than 70 years, and many of its 1,100 civil-service and permanent contract workers are focused on flight concept demonstration, research and testing. But there is much more, including projects meant to advance general scientific knowledge and NASA’s exploration of space.

One example is the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, a collaborative venture with the Johnson Space Center and Lockheed Martin, which could ferry humans to Mars in the 2030s. Others include the high-altitude, unmanned Global Hawk, which assists the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with hurricane research, and the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, which utilizes high-tech telescopic instrumentation carried in the belly of a retrofitted Boeing 747 cruising at 14

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40,000 feet to provide clearer looks into deep space than ever before.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

Gregory asserts that his role at NASA and 29-year military career were possible only through the luck of good timing.

“When I started college, if you were interested in going into the Air Force and wanted to fly, it was difficult,” he said. “The Air Force was drawing down after the end of the Vietnam War, and there were too many pilots.”

By 1978, however, the pendulum of cuts had swung too far, and the Air Force was ramping up pilot training once again.

Gregory signed on, heading to Officer Training School shortly after his Berry graduation and then to undergraduate pilot training. Rated as “fighter qualified,” he received a particularly plum assignment upon earning his wings.

“The Air Force, in its wisdom, said, ‘Jack Gregory needs to fly the F-4,’” he chuckled, claiming that timing once again was on his side. “If I had been around when the Air Force was drawing down, I’d never have had the opportunity.”

And what an opportunity it was. The F-4 Phantom was the ultimate fighting machine of its day, cruising at Mach 2.2 or about 1,500 miles per hour. Gregory quickly became an instructor pilot and then, a few short years later while serving at Ramstein

Over his career, Gregory amassed a total of 3,400 flight hours.

He served as an operational F-16 pilot and instructor pilot while on assignment in Germany, Arizona, South Carolina, Florida, California and Alaska and taught aerial combat tactics as an embedded instructor pilot and advisor with air force units of the Republic of Korea and Republic of Singapore. He also performed at more than 50 airshows across the U.S. as one of two F-16 demonstration pilots, exhibiting the aircraft’s maneuverability in front of more than 2.5 million spectators.

“The Thunderbirds could only be in one place at a time,” Gregory said. “As a publicrelations and recruiting tool, the Air Force had two smaller demonstration teams to showcase the F-16, F-15 and A-10 Warthog.

Three weekends a month, we’d leave home on Friday to go do shows on Saturday and Sunday and then come home Monday.”

INTO THE DEEP END

Gregory’s military career included numerous challenges – from commanding a fighter squadron to leading the weapons evaluation group responsible for testing air-to-air missiles and precision-guided munitions and operating the Air Force’s only fleet of aerial target drones for livefire missile tests. He even served as vice commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB when the stealth F-22 Raptor and tiltrotor CV-22 Osprey were being evaluated. But his most “maturing” assignment was a staff position in the Office of Middle East Policy under the Secretary of Defense.

Jack and Ada Long Gregory

“I had just finished two years as a squadron commander when I arrived at the Pentagon and was thrust into being an expert on totally new subject matter,” he said. “It equates to being thrown the keys of the car when you haven’t yet been taught to drive. I was the subject-matter expert on Egypt, Tunisia and Libya working for the deputy assistant secretary of defense. It was a completely different environment and a rapidly humbling experience. I had to get smart real fast. I thought I knew a lot before but realized that what I knew was pretty much like looking through a soda straw.”

Six months into the role he found himself in the White House situation room discussing U.S. options should Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi refuse to turn over two men accused of blowing up Pam Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Gaddafi, who eventually accepted responsibility for the bombing, did allow the extradition, and the men were found guilty.

In his second Pentagon tour, Gregory directed the Air Force organization charged with formulating policy for complex, internationally sensitive issues impacting U.S. politico-military relations with 54 countries in the Middle East and Africa. He also managed, in collaboration with the State Department, the sale of military equipment

valued at $19 billion to these countries.

Gregory concluded his military career as vice commander of the Eleventh Air Force at Elmendorf AFB in Alaska, where he was responsible for ensuring the readiness of more than 9,000 airmen defending American and Canadian airspace under the direction of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

“I had one more year until mandatory retirement for a colonel,” he said. “And I might have stuck it out. But it is cold in Alaska; it never got above freezing that last year until April, and that sped up the transition. My wife, in particular, had more than satisfied her curiosity about Alaskan winters and was ready to head south.”

TIES THAT BIND

Gregory’s warmth-seeking wife is the former Ada Long (77C), a Georgia girl he pursued for 18 months after being “bit by the bug” upon meeting her in Berry’s Blackstone dining hall. She “eventually caved,” he said, and “the rest is history.”

Gregory started his education at a community college in Florida, but a Berry admissions pamphlet brought home from

high school by his younger brother caught his eye.

Deciding to visit, he knew Berry was it when he turned off Highway 27 and saw the Ford Buildings in the distance.

“I have such great memories of my time at Berry, such great friends,” said the biology major. “I remember coming through the gate in the fall and, when the quarter was over, driving back through it and realizing I had never once left. And when I went to Berry for my wife’s class reunion in 2012, I saw LaBron Chance (77C) and Jim Howell (79C), and, for me, all the years stripped away.”

The Gregorys have lived in 17 locations during his career but still find their way back to Berry. Ada’s family lives in nearby LaFayette, and it is tradition to drive through campus whenever they visit. They are new grandparents; Jonas was born to their only child, Michelle, and her husband, Bruno Solis, in March 2017.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

Gregory holds two master’s degrees and is honored to have completed such prestigious Air Force training programs as the Air Command and Staff College and Air War College. He holds numerous military decorations as well as the Air Force’s Exemplary Civilian Service Award, presented after his first post-military assignment as chief of staff for the Air Force Test Center.

He values them all but most appreciates those that involve peer evaluation of his performance, including his “distinguished graduate” status from Squadron Officer School and the Air Command and Staff College. His greatest honor, however, stems from his father, who retired in 1988 as Commander of the Pacific Air Forces.

Gregory would be the first to say that retired Gen. Jack I. Gregory’s example helped guide him throughout the unanticipated twists of his military career and into his leadership role at NASA. “My father’s wisdom and perspective did a lot to shape me as a young officer,” Gregory emphasized. “It is a great honor to be his son and to have had the opportunity to learn from him.” B

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The best teacher she can be Lauren Mathis Pittman (09C) dreamed of becoming a journalist until a visit to a classroom for autistic children changed her life – and the lives of countless children struggling to learn.

by DEBBIE RASURE | photography by BRANT SANDERLIN

S

ome might wonder why special education teacher Lauren Mathis Pittman spent the time and energy to become certified as a Microsoft Innovative Educator. That’s because they’ve never met Johnny (not his real name) or the other students in her special education classroom at Holly Springs Elementary in Canton, Ga. For them, her ability to use technology means everything.

Johnny is challenged with dyslexia and dysgraphia, which affect his ability to read and write. In fact, when he started his fourth year in school he was reading just four correct words per minute. But within weeks of beginning to utilize Microsoft’s new

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immersive reader, his reading fluency jumped to 22 correct words per minute, a rate of improvement that far exceeded what he was expected to achieve over the course of an entire school year.

The immersive reader was available to

Johnny due to Pittman’s commitment to seeking new ways to help her students learn. She holds Microsoft designations as an Innovative Educator Expert, Innovative Educator Fellow and Surface Expert and also is a PBS Digital Learning Innovator. And when she’s not teaching her students, she crisscrosses the nation helping teachers learn the Microsoft educational technology and software so they, too, can use innovative strategies to increase student achievement.

Last spring, Pittman and her students were featured in a Microsoft commercial, and articles in the Washington Post, Ed Tech Magazine and Good Housekeeping followed.

Although the recognition is exciting, nothing

makes Pittman’s heart soar higher than hearing a student say, “Oh! Now I get it!”

TRIUMPHS CAN START WITH TEARS

Pittman has a deep empathy for students who struggle to learn.

Growing up, she had to work hard to grasp concepts and spent every summer from elementary through high school inside, at a desk, grappling with her studies. And she wasn’t alone.

Pittman watched her younger sister cope with the challenges of dyslexia, one of a wide range of learning differences her own students today face, along with dysgraphia, ADHD, autism and other difficulties with visual and auditory processing. These challenges have resulted in some of Pittman’s students being as many as three grade levels behind their peers, a reality that takes both an academic and deeply personal toll.

“There’s a huge emotional part to deal with,” Pittman said about teaching children with learning challenges. “You have to armor up for battle before you can even begin to talk about academics. You have to help students change that self-defeating attitude, their willingness to give only half an effort.

You have to help them change a part of themselves first. Sometimes there are tears.”

AN OFFER SHE COULDN’T REFUSE

Shortly after earning certification as a Microsoft Innovative Educator, Pittman was approached through her Twitter account by a Microsoft product manager who asked whether she’d be willing to beta test the company’s new immersive reader software designed to help students learn to read and write, abilities essential to academic and life success that are particularly challenging for Pittman’s students. She jumped at the chance.

The immersive reader software works by

using scientifically proven means of enhancing learning, such as large fonts, highcontrast backgrounds and highlighting. With the tap of an icon, students with low vision or learning differences can activate the software’s immersive reader to hear the text read aloud. Students who have trouble understanding what they’ve read can choose to highlight the parts of speech, break words into syllables and break complex sentences into smaller parts, all proven techniques to improve reading comprehension. There’s even a tool that types as students speak, allowing those who are unable to use a keyboard to express their thoughts in writing.

“When they first pitched the idea, I couldn’t believe it,” Pittman said. “The immersive reader was developed as an employee competition. It wasn’t even supposed to be released to the public. But Microsoft’s wonderful people are invested in education, especially in diverse groups of learners. When they realized it had the power to help so many people, they decided to make it available. For my students, especially, it’s really transformed their educational experience.”

Pittman’s students overall have increased their reading fluency by at least 60 words per minute since she started using the software, and four students have gone back into their grade-level classes because of the confidence and skills they’ve gained. She has found the software to be self-motivating because it enables her students to work independently.

But that doesn’t mean they have free rein to waste time.

“I have access to all of my students’ OneNote accounts and see everything they are doing,” she said. “Everything happens in real time. If they make changes on their screen, I see it. One time I was sitting on an airplane about to take off when I saw a student doing something he shouldn’t have been. I called him out on his OneNote and told him to get back to work.”

PATH TO PASSION

While a journalism student at Georgia State University, Pittman never imagined she’d end up in the classroom, especially considering her learning challenges. When a school newspaper assignment required her to spend an hour a day for a week observing the teacher and students in a self-contained autism unit, her career plans took off in a whole new direction.

“I loved it so much, I decided to change my major,” Pittman said. She began searching for schools with a rigorous teacher education program, and Berry came out on top. After completing her associate degree at Georgia State, she transferred to Berry and began preparing for her life’s work.

“I don’t know whether I would have become as solid a reading teacher if I had not experienced [the late] Dr. Amber Prince’s way of teaching phonics and teaching through literature,” she emphasized. “The program felt like master’s level work in which highly motivated people did their best to prepare you to become the best teacher you can be.”

Now, after 10 years in the classroom, she has set her sights on a master’s degree – in special education, of course. She still seeks ways of becoming the best teacher she can be. B

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Faithful brew

by RICK WOODALL

The path to success is different for everyone, but few can claim as many twists and turns as

Jonathan Pascual (04C). His desire to follow God’s call has led him from the Amazon jungle to one of the trendiest coffee shops in Atlanta. Who knows what might come next?

J

onathan Pascual didn’t grow up dreaming of starting his own coffee shop. In fact, he didn’t even drink what might be considered the lifeblood of many a college student until he took a job at Starbucks after completing two years of postgraduate missionary work in the jungles of South America.

Fast-forward a decade, and Pascual’s Taproom Coffee and Beer is the toast of Atlanta, offering a unique mix of specialty coffee and craft beer – spiked with a double-shot of community – that has drawn rave reviews from the Atlanta JournalConstitution, Atlanta Magazine and Creative Loafing.

Relaxing at a corner table sipping his signature “Beerspresso” – a flash-brewed, nitro-iced coffee with malt and hops served in a beer glass – Pascual reflected on his journey from young college graduate

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intent on carrying out the “Great Commission” of Jesus to husband, father and owner of a thriving business just a few miles from where he grew up.

“God builds all of our stories in amazing ways,” he marveled. “We don’t see it all throughout, but we can look back and see how He put it all together. That’s how it was for me. All these elements are now a part of my story, Taproom’s story, my wife’s story and my kids’ stories.”

ON MISSION

Pascual’s story began in the shadow of downtown Atlanta.

Growing up in the urban enclave of Clarkston, the son of Filipino immigrants was salutatorian of his high school class and a Berry Presidential Scholar. Credits earned while still in high school allowed

Brant Sanderlin

Eileen Blume

Pascual with his family, including, from left, daughter Favor, wife Sarah, daughters Aurora and Faith, and son Ransom. Below, Pascual conducts a baptism in the foothills of the Andes Mountains of South America.

him to enter Berry as a sophomore, providing the scheduling flexibility he needed to immerse himself in his growing faith. He had grown up around religion, but it was only when he picked up the Bible and really dug into it that his faith became personal.

“As I started studying and looking, I saw God’s heart for the world,” he explained. “It’s for all peoples, tongues, tribes and nations. So it made sense, if He commands us to go, then I would go. There was no other option.”

Taking advantage of every break in his college schedule, Pascual dove headlong into the mission field. He completed short-term assignments of one to six weeks in the Dominican Republic, Philippines, Honduras, South Africa, Mexico and England, in addition to a six-month stint teaching English in Thailand that consumed the first half of his senior year.

It was in Thailand that he met Sarah, a missionary from Colorado who eventually became his wife. They corresponded as friends for years, often from different continents, before he finally worked up the courage to profess his love. She initially said no to a relationship – “shot me down,” he recalled – before warming to the idea. Sensing an opening, Pascual flew with a ring in his pocket to see her in North Africa and proposed on their first date. They married in 2008.

WALKING THE PATH

It was during that same period in Pascual’s life that another thought, which eventually developed into Taproom, stirred. Musing about the future with a fellow missionary after returning from a “crazy, formative” two-year stint in the Amazon, Pascual half-jokingly landed on the idea of starting a coffee shop because “that’s what everybody says they’re going to do.”

That conversation set in motion a series of seemingly random chance encounters and unexpected opportunities that, looking back, weren’t random at all. At every step along the way, the Berry psychology major gained increasing levels of knowledge and experience as he worked his way into management and business-plan development for a series of coffee shops – not all of which took off – in Rome and Atlanta. Those experiences gave him the confidence to say, “Hey, I can do this,” as he considered the possibility of opening his own shop.

“I was able to make mistakes on someone else’s dime, which is

great experience and a great opportunity to do it where I wasn’t losing my shirt,” he related. “I definitely used that and built on it and said, ‘All right, when the right opportunity comes up maybe we’ll do this on our own.”

That “right opportunity” presented itself in Atlanta’s historic Kirkwood community, where Pascual and his wife were involved with an emerging church as they took a break from the mission field to begin raising a family. Trying to start a business with four children at home under the age of 5 proved challenging – “Taproom was like the fifth baby,” he joked – but the opportunity to tap into the energy of a revitalized neighborhood seemed too good to pass up. True to their character, they prayed for guidance and then jumped in with both feet.

Noting similarities in the clienteles for both specialty coffee and craft beer, Pascual developed a business plan that combined the two products. That unique combination helped spur interest in a crowdfunding campaign launched to help defray startup costs, resulting in $21,000 in contributions, 140 percent of the couple’s original goal. The money was a relative drop in the bucket compared to the amount needed to get the business off the ground, but the publicity was priceless.

“It ended up being amazing for marketing and for getting the word out that we were going to open,” he said. “What it really showed was the neighborhood was excited to have us and that Atlanta as a whole was excited for this concept to come about.”

STILL ON CALL

Three and a half years after launch, it’s safe to say Atlanta is still excited about Taproom. The unassuming shop in a storefront on Hosea L. Williams Drive has established a firm niche in a crowded marketplace. It has built a loyal clientele among local residents who see it as a community-oriented gathering spot while also drawing tourists and visitors from elsewhere in the city thanks to consistent “best of” mentions in the local media.

Though the unique business concept continues to garner attention, Pascual said Taproom is, in reality, a coffee shop.

“From open to close, people treat it like a coffee shop,” he said.

“It’s not at any time of the day going to feel like a bar.”

Taproom’s success has allowed Pascual to invest less time in the business and more into his family and service as a church elder. Each afternoon, he heads home early to spend time with the couple’s adopted Ugandan twins, Faith and Favor, daughter Aurora and son Ransom. It’s a far cry from the early days when he was working 60 to 100 hours per week.

Even as the business gains momentum, Pascual imagines a future in which he returns to the mission field with Sarah, once again living abroad as they did early in their marriage. Both have resumed shortterm mission work in recent years, and something more substantial could be on the horizon.

“Our endgame wasn’t a successful coffee shop,” he explained. “It was maybe having one that’s successful enough to fund other things in life. Being a part of God’s heart for the nations is always something that’s been a priority for us, and we are completely open to once again dropping everything here and living long-term in another country.”

Stay tuned. B

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More

than meets the eye

E

MMA CHAMBERS DOESN’T SEE THE WORLD LIKE MOST OF HER CLASSMATES, but that

doesn’t mean she lacks vision.

Born with achromatopsia, a recessive genetic condition affecting roughly one in 30,000 worldwide, Emma has no depth or color perception, is extremely sensitive to light, and can only see objects close to her face. Essentially, she views the world as if looking through wax paper, though you would never know it by the active life she leads as a Berry student with dreams of a career in pediatric medicine.

“Just because I have a disability does not mean I’m disabled,” she emphasized.

Refusing to allow her condition to define her, Emma exhibits a remarkable ability to adapt instilled by parents Milton (78A, 82C) and Julia Reny (90C) Chambers.

“We decided we weren’t going to treat her differently from our other kids, and we didn’t,” said her father, operations manager for Berry Student Enterprises and son of two other longtime members of the campus community, Jo Ann White Chambers (51H, 75G) and A. Milton Chambers (49C), both now deceased. “She rode a bike all over campus, played soccer one year and did gymnastics. There was never anything she couldn’t do.”

The same could be said for her time at Berry. Only a sophomore, Emma already has distinguished herself as a student worker in the Child Development Center and, more recently, a resident assistant in Morgan Hall.

The exercise science and Spanish major also

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serves as a Presidential Ambassador and volunteers with the English as a Second Language program, all while excelling in her off-campus job as a radio broadcast producer for the Rome Braves.

“It’s super ironic that the blind girl does audio-visual,” joked Emma, reflecting the good humor that sees her through life.

Genuine and candid, she sees every day as an opportunity to empower herself and others.

“Sometimes people don’t know how to talk or act around me,” she explained. “But I love teaching people about my condition. I want everyone to know I’m just like everyone else.”

As a freshman, Emma made her way around campus by counting steps, memorizing every turn, street crossing and

patch of uneven sidewalk.

This year, a new companion – guide dog Jetta – has made those journeys easier.

“Jetta is my eyes. When she stops, I stop; when she goes, I go,” Emma said. “So I’m dependent on her but ultimately more independent because I can get around campus more easily and go places I couldn’t before.”

Even with Jetta, things aren’t always easy – “If she misses a step I fall, and sometimes that happens” – but falling doesn’t mean failing.

“She cares about me and shows concern and a willingness to improve when she makes a mistake or I fall,” Emma stated.

“The power of the positive voice is really effective in encouraging Jetta and reassuring her.”

That same “positive voice” echoes through all facets of Emma’s life, even when a promising surgical procedure fails to produce the desired result or the reality of her condition forces a change in focus.

“I used to want to be a pediatric surgeon, but I’ve had to adjust because … again … blind girl,” she related. “That won’t keep me from helping however I can, though.” B

by student writer KATHERINE EDMONDS photography by student JACOB BUSHEY

Campaign Priorities Expand opportunities for students to invest in their own success Develop leaders and entrepreneurs with character and compassion Create places and spaces that spur student achievement Meet current needs and fund future opportunities

The

P fm

effect Abby Thomas (14C)

There's a force taking hold.

The annual Pennies for Martha campaign, which finds its roots in Martha Berry’s century-old birthday celebration, seems to be spreading across the country. Alumni sporting Pennies for Martha t-shirts were sighted across the map last fall – from our nation’s capital to Disney World and from San Jose to Boston.

Is it simply that Berry alumni love tradition and welcome the opportunity to give back in a way that reminds them of their own days as students dropping pennies into the basket at the bottom of

Lavender Mountain during the famed Mountain Day Grand March? Or is it possible that the source of the magic is the power of … (cue background music) …

Pennies for Martha Man? Whatever the motivation, 2,280 Pennies for Martha gifts were made by alumni, students, parents and faculty/staff.

TRADITION!

There is no doubt that Vikings across the country love Berry traditions and the school’s strong sense of community.

“Being able to give back in the form of a Mountain Day gift really brought back the joy and excitement that Mountain Day always provides to students, alumni and anyone who calls Berry home,” said Jordan Hester (12C). “I’m grateful to be a part of a school that puts so much emphasis on giving back and keeping strong connections with your alma mater.”

That thought was echoed by Colleen Curlee (16C), who worked in the alumni and e-communication offices as a student and understands “the value of giving back to Berry.”

“I think the Pennies for Martha campaign is a great way to engage the entire Berry community in giving during Mountain Day!” she declared, adding, “It’s what Martha would have wanted for sure.”

THE SUPERHERO EFFECT

One thing Martha Berry never could have

foreseen was Pennies for Martha Man, the strange yet somehow magical superhero who showed up on campus last fall, starring in a number of videos and making a Mountain Day appearance.

PFM Man’s place of origin is unknown, although it’s rumored to be a small, coinshaped planet 3 million light years to the right of Krypton, the birthplace of Superman.

His goal in appearing for Martha Berry’s birthday was to spread the word about the importance of all alumni giving even the smallest amount to Berry each year and to stress the super power of those collective gifts.

Oddly, several on campus noticed that unassuming Connor O’Sullivan, a first-year biology major who hopes to become a doctor, seemed to drop out of sight whenever PFM Man appeared in public. Once, O’Sullivan startled several walkers and a small herd of deer as he appeared to search frantically for a telephone booth.

In an interview with Berry magazine, PFM Man refused to comment on O’Sullivan’s noted disappearances. He did, however, emphasize that his work at Berry was a lot of fun on behalf of a great cause … and that he would make a return visit whenever his powers were needed.

“It was a great time and a bucket of laughs for a good cause,” PFM Man stated.

“Berry’s annual fund supports scholarships and student work, and those are two super important things that define what Berry is.”

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Kristen Sloan

Sharing their ‘happily ever after’ WHEN ELIZABETH “LIZA” KEITH MACFARLAND (71c) WALKED INTO THE LONGHORN STEAKHOUSE IN LARGO, FLA., after work one night in 2012, all she wanted was a margarita and something to eat. Instead, she found the love of her life.

“There he was sitting at the bar, cute as a bug,” Liza said of meeting future husband Lee Miller (72c). “I started talking to him.

Pretty soon I asked where he was from.

When he told me Rome, Ga., it took my breath away. I said, ‘Then you’ve got to know about Berry College.’ That’s when he told me he had attended Berry. Immediately, I knew I could trust him.”

As the pair continued to chat, they discov­ ered that they had attended Berry during the same academic year, although they never met. Forty years and one dinner later, however, Cupid’s arrow finally found its mark.

A LIFE-CHANGING EXPERIENCE

Long before it became the bridge that brought them together, Berry helped provide

Berry alumni meet, marry and make an estate gift for the next generation of Berry students. a foundation for both of their lives. Now the pair will offer that same foundation to others through an estate gift that ultimately will fund the Elizabeth and Morrison Lee Miller Endowed Scholarship for hardworking students with limited financial resources. It’s exactly the kind of scholarship that would have helped both Liza and Lee during their time at Berry.

Lee studied at Berry for two years before transferring to Auburn University to pursue a degree in engineering. He credits his time at Berry, in particular his classes with the late Dr. Lawrence E. “Dr. Mac” McAllister, with giving him the foundation he needed to succeed at Auburn and in his 47-year career in electrical engineering and management, primarily working in the design and construction of large industrial process facilities in the United States as well as abroad. Lee soon will retire from PegasusTSI in Tampa, Fla., a multinational engineering firm.

“He was phenomenal,” Lee said of

Chuck Robertson

New leadership for Planned Giving Council

22

THE NEW YEAR BROUGHT A NEW CHAIR FOR BERRY’S PLANNED GIVING COUNCIL, an elite group of financial professionals offering free consultations to Berry alumni and friends who choose to maximize their giving potential through estate planning.

Owen Malcolm (97C) took over leadership of the group from the founding chair, Roger Lusby (79C), who will continue to serve as a council member and liaison between the PGC and Board of Trustees. Malcolm (left) is a Certified Financial Planner who currently serves as managing director of the Atlanta office of United Capital Financial Life Management. He was formerly a financial analyst with IBM Global Financing and a financial planner with Edward Jones. He and his wife, Tina Campbell Malcolm (95C, 97G), live in Johns Creek, Ga., with their four children.

You can tap the expertise of Malcolm, Lusby and other PGC members by contacting Helen Lansing, Berry’s planned giving officer, at 706-378-2867 or hlansing@berry.edu.

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2017-18

Dr. Mac. “He taught me more about math and physics in two quarters than I learned my entire time at Auburn. I learned how to listen in class and how to retain information at Berry.”

And while at Berry, Lee also learned how to manage a busy schedule, taking classes full time and working 40 hours a week at General Electric in Rome.

Liza, an elementary education major, was no less busy. She too took a full class load and worked full time, juggling jobs as a medical transcriptionist, youth group leader and telephone operator with Sears.

“That’s why we never met at Berry; we were just too darn busy!” Liza exclaimed, laughing.

Liza left Berry after a year to marry and move to California, where she continued to pursue her education, ultimately earning certification from the International Montessori Society.

VALUE OF BERRY

Throughout the Millers’ courtship and marriage, Berry has been an ever-present topic of conversation, so it’s no surprise that when the pair began to talk about estate planning, their thoughts settled on the school.

“We both strongly value education, which is why we decided to help fund students in this endeavor,” Lee said. “Once that decision was made, Berry was our only consideration.”

While it might have taken the Millers 40 years to find each other, one thing is certain: The love they share is going to help future generations of Berry students live their own happily ever after.

Helping students become LifeReady ALUMNI AND FRIENDS DEMONSTRATED what it means to “Be Berry” last summer and fall with gifts that will change students’ lives now and in the future. Below we list all those who made LifeReady Campaign gifts, pledges, bequests and estate commitments of $10,000 or more from June 21 to Oct. 31, 2017. We extend sincere thanks to them and to all who make a gift of any size to Berry. It is our privilege to recognize all donors annually in Berry’s online Honor Roll of Donors (berry.edu/honorroll).

Anonymous, $14,408 for the Maxine Strickland Endowed Nursing Scholarship Austin W. Boyd Jr., $10,298 for the student entrepreneurship center Callaway Foundation, $32,070 to fund the F.E. Callaway Professorship Georgia Independent College Association, $24,018 for the general fund Hubert Judd Charitable Trust, $23,550 for the general fund Ray M. and Mary Elizabeth Lee Foundation, $10,000 to fund the Ray M. and Mary Elizabeth Lee Scholarship Ruby Vestal Mills (61C), $10,000 for the Class of 1961C Endowed Gate of Opportunity Scholarship National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, $14,000, with $12,000 funding the NSDAR Gate of Opportunity Scholarship and $2,000 supporting the Student Emergency Fund National Society Daughters of the American Revolution Junior Membership Committee, $32,000, with $20,000 supporting the renovation of Ford Auditorium and $12,000 funding the NSDAR Junior Membership Committee Gate of Opportunity Scholarship

William L. Pence (76C), $10,000 for the Bettyann O’Neill Innovation Fund Frances Esther Richey (83A, 87C), $50,000 for the renovation of Ford Auditorium Kenton J. Sicchitano, $10,000 for the Bettyann O’Neill Innovation Fund Don Slater (77C) and Debbie Poss (78C), $10,000 for Sisters Theatre and Blackstone Hall The William B. Stokely Jr. Foundation, $10,000 for the William B. Stokely Jr. Scholarship Rachel Amanda Tidwell (93C), $200,000 for the renovation of Ford Auditorium Terry Worley, $100,000 for the renovation of Ford Auditorium

John Zellars Jr. Foundation, $10,000 for the Zellars Family Scholarship

Bequests The estate of Helen S. Drummond, $39,582 unrestricted The estate of Louise M. Smith, $15,150 unrestricted The estate of Virginia R. Webb (44c), $20,849 for the Steven J. Cage Athletic and Recreation Center The estate of Daniel Leon White (66C), $25,407 for the Class of 1966C Assistant Gardener Endowed Work Position

Recent highlights ■ Campaign total exceeds $106 million ■ Support for Ford Auditorium renovation tops $1 million ■ $300,000 Ford matching challenge of Berry parents Rick and Barbara Gaby completed ■ Sisters Theatre dedicated (see page 2) ■ Annual giving reaches new high of $2.7 million in 2016-17 ■ Spring completion anticipated for Oak Hill pavilion Priorities remaining ■ New animal science building ■ Renovation of Ford Auditorium ■ Entrepreneurship ■ Berry Center for Integrity in Leadership

Always needed ■ Need and work-based scholarships ■ Crowdfunding and other annual gifts ■ Estate gifts

For more information, visit berry.edu/lifeready.

Thank you!

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2017-18

23

News from you CLASS NOTES – THE ORIGINAL SOCIAL MEDIA

1960s Dr. David Kuhlman (67A, 72C) recently enjoyed a seven-day cruise to Alaska.

Ruby Bishop Clements (68C) is retired from DeKalb County (Ga.) schools and lives in Ormond Beach, Fla. Her husband, Carl Jason Clements (68C), died in October 2016 after a long illness.

municipality’s wastewater treatment plant. He is a senior operator and lab analyst at the facility, located about 40 miles northeast of Atlanta.

C,c College G,g Graduate school A,a Academy H,h High school

1970s Alan “Butch” Jones (70C) has been inducted into the Jordan Vocational High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Butch played football, basketball and baseball for the Columbus, Ga., high school before continuing his baseball career at Berry. He returned to his high school alma mater in 1986 as a drafting and design teacher and was vocational supervisor from 1998 until his 2005 retirement. He also served as head softball coach for 14 seasons, winning more than 200 games.

Frank Reddy (left) receives service award Frank Reddy (71C) was honored for 20 years of service to the city of Buford, Ga., as an employee of the

CLASS YEARS are followed by a letter that indicates Berry status. Uppercase letters denote graduates; lowercase letters denote attended/attending and anticipated year of graduation.

Lynda Harris Smith Lynda Harris Smith (71C) has moved to Hollywood, Fla., to be closer to her two grandchildren, ages 4 and 6, after retiring from teaching home economics and a second career in sales.

Ramona Sweat Dewees (72C) recently announced her retirement.

Sandi Griffin (73C) has retired after 44 years as an elementary school educator, including 23 as a classroom teacher and 21 as a counselor.

The Rev. George H. Donigian (74C) has published a new Christmas devotional, In Days to Come: From Advent to Epiphany, through Upper Room Books. The book includes references to some Berry alumni friends. George is ordained in the United Methodist Church and is a member of the Virginia Annual Conference. He now ministers in South Carolina.

SEND YOUR PERSONAL NEWS, which is subject to editing, to: classnotes@berry.edu. Photos of sufficient quality will be used at the discretion of the magazine staff. News in this issue was received June 21 – Oct. 31, 2017.

Jerry Blanchard Jerry Blanchard (75C) was included in the 24th edition of Best Lawyers in America for his work in banking and finance law and financial services regulation law. He is senior counsel in the financial institutions group of the firm of Bryan Cave in Atlanta. Best Lawyers also recognized Jerry as Atlanta’s 2018 “Lawyer of the Year” in the practice area of financial services regulation law.

Dr. Michelle Tilghman (78C) has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Veterinary Acupuncture. The longtime owner of Loving Touch Animal Center in Stone Mountain, Ga., Michelle serves on the board of directors for both the AAVA and the World Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Her daughter has followed her into veterinary medicine, practicing in Savannah. Michelle was featured on the cover of the fall 2003 Berry magazine.

Troy White (78C) has returned to Australia with wife Susan after 10 years in Uruguay. Read more about him at starduststudios.com/artistsbiography.html.

1980s

Mark Thompson

Members of the college class of 1961 pause for a quick photo during their annual reunion, held Oct. 12-15 in and around Santa Rosa Beach and Pensacola, Fla.

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BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2017-18

Mark Thompson (76A) is executive director at Archstone Recovery Center in Lantana, Fla. He holds a bachelor’s degree in religious education and a master’s degree in mental health counseling and is a licensed mental health counselor and master-certified addictions professional. The father of two resides in Delray Beach, Fla.

The Rev. Lee Kellett Hollingshed (80C) completed the Program of Alternate Studies of Memphis Theological Seminary and was ordained as a Minister of the Word and Sacrament in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church on May 28, 2017. Lee is chaplain of Hickory Log Vocational School. She is married to Glen Hollingshed and is the mother of Robert Armstrong (09C).

Carol Patrick Michel (84C) was included in the 2018 edition of Best Lawyers in America for her work in health care law.

A group of 10 Mercer University medical students traveled to Southeast Asia as part of last summer’s “Mercer on Mission” program, and three were Berry grads! Pictured from left, Courtney Large Sanchez (13C), Alayna LeCroy (11C) and Will Smith (14C) honed their medical skills and served their fellow man while providing care to nearly 1,600 patients in Cambodia.

1990s

Hall of Famer THE LATE WAYNE

SHACKELFORD (55C)

was

one of two 2017 inductees into the Georgia Agricultural Hall of Fame of the University of Georgia.

Well known in Gwinnett County (Ga.) for his leadership and work with the agriculture extension office and in county government, he also served as commis­ sioner of the Georgia Department of

Robert L. Howren (85C) is serving a one-year term as international president of Tax Executives Institute, the preeminent association for corporate tax executives worldwide. He is head of tax for BlueLinx Corp., a major national building products distributor based in Atlanta. Civic involvement for the Berry Presidential Scholar includes prior service as president and board member for Atlanta’s Empty Stocking Fund. He also is an avid runner who recently achieved his goal of completing a half-marathon in all 50 states.

Pablo Urrutia (86C) is vice president of communications and public relations for the Columbian affiliate of Drummond Coal Co., based in Birmingham, Ala. Kim Almand Lane (87C, 92G) retired from the Bartow County (Ga.) School System after 30 years of service and now works for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Transportation, presiding over the completion of Ga.

Calvin J. Wong

Robert L. Howren

Rodney L. Chandler Rodney L. Chandler (90C) has been elected chair of the Georgia Society of Certified Public Accountants’ Board of Directors for the 2017-18 fiscal year. The CPA and partner at Smith, Adcock and Co. in Athens has served in a number of leadership roles for GSCPA during his 25 years as a member. Other professional and civic involvements include current service as director of Jackson EMC. Rodney lives in Danielsville with wife Jill Duffy Chandler (90C) and their three children.

Barbara Beyke (93C) has been named Georgia Senior Beta Club State Sponsor for the second time.

In that capacity, she will lead the Georgia Senior Chapter of the National Beta Club through June 2019.

Highway 316 and transportation planning for the 1996 Summer Olympics. He was the 1992 winner of the Berry Alumni Association’s Entrepreneurial Spirit Award.

David Matherne David Matherne (87C) covered 1,500 meters in 4 minutes, 28.2 seconds to win the national title in the 50-54 age division of the 2017 USA Track and Field Masters Outdoor Championships. The former Berry All-American is a teacher and coach at Cartersville (Ga.) High School.

Brandi Calhoun Diamond Brandi Calhoun Diamond (93C) has been named director of children’s ministries at Northside United Methodist Church in Atlanta.

Anne McKibbin (93C) has been named president of the board of directors of the Illinois Environmental Council and IEC Education Fund, which work together to ensure a more healthful environment for Illinois residents.

She is policy director of Elevate Energy, a Chicago-based nonprofit that helps underserved communities access clean energy and improve energy efficiency.

The Shaw family Tara Coleman Shaw (96C) and husband Ryan announce the recent arrival of daughters Sara (8) and Sywia (9) from Warsaw, Poland. The family resides in Buford, Ga., where Tara works as an elementary school music teacher.

Brian Brodrick (97C) has been appointed to the advisory board of Historic Rural Churches of Georgia.

He also serves on the Berry Board of Visitors and Watkinsville City Council, among many other leadership activities.

Advaita Kala (98C) is an internationally published novelist and best-selling author who has won awards for film writing in India in addition to serving as a regular prime-time analyst discussing such issues as women’s rights, society and politics.

Dr. Justin McBrayer (98C) spent much of 2017 abroad with wife Anna Fuller McBrayer (00C) and children Patrick and Aeneas as part of a Fulbright teaching appointment at the University of Innsbruck, Austria.

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2017-18

25

NEWS FROM YOU

Luther McDaniel (99C) recently earned a Ph.D. in educational leadership from Mercer University.

Luther is principal of Whitehead Road Elementary School in Athens, Ga. He and wife Cristina have three children: Brandon, Diego and Sofia.

University holds a Master of Education degree in instructional technology from Valdosta State University and is in the dissertation phase of VSU’s educational doctorate program in adult and career education.

Ali Meder Herring (01C) has joined Spencerhill Associates as assistant literary agent. She primarily represents commercial young adult and middle grade fiction, romance, Southern women’s fiction, and Christian/inspirational fiction.

She can be found on Twitter at @HerringAli.

Alicia Clark Probst

2000s Melissa Schlea Loggins (00C) published her first novel, Retribution, under the pen name Anne Schlea.

The Southern paranormal fantasy is available through Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Daniel Sprinkle (00C) and wife Dr. Rita Chen announce the birth of daughter Dorothy Anne on July 17, 2017. She joined brothers Edmond (7) and Samuel (5) in the family’s Shelby, N.C., home.

Proud supporters LEAH BOLDEN (15C), THIRD FROM LEFT, CELEBRATED MEDICAL SCHOOL WHITE COAT CEREMONY Lindsey Payne Brackett Lindsey Payne Brackett (02C) recently published her debut novel, Still Waters. This Lowcountry story about the power of family and forgiveness is a 4-star Romantic Times pick available through Amazon and local retailers. Lindsey lives in Cleveland, Ga., with husband Joshua Brackett (02C) and their four children. Joshua is CFO for Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs and president of the Habersham Community Theater.

Daniel Grove Photography

Alicia Clark Probst (99C) was honored as 2016-17 Teacher of the Year for her work as director of bands at Rainbow Middle School in Rainbow City, Ala. Alicia holds a Master of Divinity degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and has spent time as a missionary in South Africa and five other countries. She is married to Dr. Chris Probst, a trumpet professor at Jacksonville State University.

Dorea Hardy Dorea Hardy (01C) was included on the Albany Herald’s annual “40 under 40” list of Southwest Georgia’s top young leaders and is a member of Leadership Albany’s 2018 class.

The web developer for Albany State

26

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2017-18

Melissa McCarty Tankersley (02C) and David Tankersley were married July 8, 2017, in San Antonio, Texas, and then honeymooned in Barcelona and Seville, Spain. The couple resides in San Antonio, where Melissa is a high school Spanish teacher at North East ISD and David is a hospital chaplain at Methodist Healthcare System.

with one of her Berry

mentors, Milton Chambers (78A, 82C), far left, and her Gate of Opportunity Scholarship donors, Al (61c) and Becky Browning (61C) Christopher. Before starting medical school, Bolden completed a premedical graduatecertificate program and worked in research on ethics in science with a professor of genetics and genomics.

Maegan Eggler-Bright, left, and Ashley Kramer Kinnard David and Melissa McCarty Tankersley

HER CHICAGO

Maegan Eggler-Bright (06C) and Ashley Kramer Kinnard (07C) were selected as “Top Ten Young Professionals” by the Douglas County (Ga.) Chamber of Commerce in 2017. Maegan is director of victim services for the Douglas County district attorney’s office, while Ashley is public relations and communications coordinator for GreyStone Power.

Beth Chastain (06C) married Jed Berry in Frost Chapel on Sept. 23, 2017.

Katie Norman Grubbs (06C) completed her Master of Arts and Ph.D. in English literature at the University of Georgia and now serves as adjunct professor of English at Houston Baptist University. She and husband Dr. David Grubbs have three children: Arden Leigh (5), Beren Edmund (3) and Caedmon Gregory (1).

The Jowers family Debraleigh Brown Jowers (06C) and husband Jon announce the April 8, 2017, birth of son Ian Matthew.

The family resides in Atlanta.

NEWS FROM YOU

Kelleigh Payne (09C) opened her own chiropractic clinic, Crescent City Chiropractic Center, in New Orleans in July 2017.

Katherine Elizabeth Harney Christopher Harney (08C) and wife Diane announce the birth of daughter Katherine Elizabeth on June 5, 2017. The family lives in Sandy Springs, Ga. Skye Hannah (09C) serves as communications and events specialist with the Caltech Associates at the California Institute of Technology. She previously served as marketing assistant with AC Martin Architecture in Los Angeles and as senior staff photojournalist/ staff writer for the Rome NewsTribune

We all row!

Megan Kate Gilker Megan Kate Gilker (09C) and Jessica Gilker (10C) joined mother Kathy in winning four national championships and 15 national Top10 awards at the Arabian Horse Association’s 2017 Sport Horse National Arabian and Half Arabian Championship Horse Show in Raleigh, N.C. Both sisters rode for the equestrian team at Berry.

Fabulous fellowship HANNAH GRICE TOMPKINS (15C) was one of only 63 individuals

nationwide selected for the 2017 Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship. This highly competitive program seeks to attract talented, committed individuals with backgrounds in the STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – into teaching in highneed Georgia secondary schools.

A Berry environmental science major with a biology

These alumni showed their Berry spirit during a summer trip that included The Narrows in Zion National Park. Pictured are, front, Carrie Nobles (16C), and, second row from left, Alyssa Nobles (12C), Stephen Williams (86C, 90G), Beth Dodson Williams (86C, 90G), Kathryn Dugger Nobles (82C, FS) and Randy Nobles (80C, 84G). These two families of educators (both current and retired) have taken eight trips together since 2002, visiting 14 states and more than 23 different national parks.

2010s Danielle Hanifin (10C) lives in Tasmania, where she is project manager for a writers’ festival and other arts events, works at a cheesery, and tutors migrant and refugee youth.

David Nuckolls (10C) and the Dalton Agency took home the Phoenix Award for “Media Relations – Government” at PRSA Georgia’s Annual Awards Gala, besting submissions from the University of Georgia and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

David has spent the last five years at the Georgia Department of Economic Development, currently serving as global account manager for marketing and operations.

Gates Michael Story Jimmy Story (10C, FFS) and Candace Foster Story (09C) announce the June 8, 2017, birth of son Gates Michael. The family resides in Marietta, Ga.

concentration, Tompkins pursued a master’s degree in integrative biology at Kennesaw State University, where a teaching assistantship ignited her love for mentoring and teaching. As a Woodrow Wilson Fellow,

Isaac Benjamin De Kleine

she is now earning a master’s degree in secondary science education at Georgia State University, assisted by a $30,000 stipend. Upon graduation, she is committed to teaching a minimum of three years in select urban and rural Georgia high schools.

Eliana Elizabeth Rowell Chad Rowell (10C) and wife Lauren announce the birth of daughter Eliana Elizabeth on July 26, 2017. Chad is pastor at the First Baptist Church of Princeton, Texas.

Randall De Kleine (11G) and Morgan Briggs De Kleine announce the March 29, 2017, birth of son Isaac Benjamin, the second grand­ child of Berry President Steve Briggs and his wife, Brenda. The De Kleine family resides in Goshen, Ind.

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2017-18

27

(Career) field of dreams CAMERON CARTER (10C) AND ALEX MIDDLETON (12C, FFS) cut

their video-production teeth as Berry students working for Viking Fusion. Now they’re putting those skills to work entertaining and informing tens of thousands of baseball fans each night at SunTrust Park, home of the Atlanta Braves. As assistant production manager for BravesVision, Carter focuses on game-day logistics, replay management and scoreboard operation. Middleton, a producer and editor, oversees the bulk of content production and editing for features that run in-stadium. Last

Brett Adams Brett Adams (12C) is president of the Troup County Bar Association and creator of the organization’s website, which won an award for best website in its category from the State Bar of Georgia. He also completed the second-annual Backpacks 4 Kids program, which he launched with a colleague to provide backpacks and school supplies to underprivileged elementary school children in Troup County, and was named senior cochair of the Georgia Legal Food Frenzy, a two-week competition to raise donations for local food banks.

summer, the duo took a quick road trip to Cooperstown, N.Y., to document longtime Braves executive John Schuerholz’s induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame (pictured above). They’ve also worked with such notable Braves legends as Hank Aaron, Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Bobby Cox, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine.

Cameron Carter, left, and Alex Middleton

28

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2017-18

Taylor Thompson Reynolds Taylor Thompson Reynolds (12C) is senior manager of event sales and services at Georgia Aquarium, her professional home since 2013. She enjoys creating unique and memorable experiences for guests while also promoting the conservation and preservation of our oceans. Taylor lives in Atlanta with husband Chadd Reynolds (11C), an associate attorney at the firm of Autry, Hanrahan, Hall and Cook.

Jacob Stubbs (13C) was awarded a White House internship in the Office of Domestic Policy under President Donald Trump. Previously, he worked for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Kevin Shepherd (14C) is in his junior year at the Dental College of Georgia.

Joe Simms Crain and Arielle deBrun Joe Simms Crain III (15C) and Arielle deBrun (13C) were married July 8, 2017, in Charlotte, N.C. The couple resides in Atlanta.

Daniel Payne Daniel Payne (15C) has returned to Berry as supervisor of the college dairy. He previously served as assistant dairy manager at the University of Georgia Tifton Research Farm, helping to oversee day-to-day operations for a staff of full-time employees and part-time students responsible for 300 head of cattle. He worked in the Berry dairy unit throughout his four years as a student, among many other activities related to his animal science major.

Paton Roden Paton Roden (15C) has completed her master’s degree at the University of Virginia and is now second-year experience coordinator at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In training student leaders and planning campuswide events, the former SGA president is following a passion for student affairs that began at Berry through her work in the student activities office and service in student government. Paton has plans to

Christopher Dorrill (17C) shook hands with President Donald Trump while assisting Samaritan’s Purse with Hurricane Irma relief efforts in Naples, Fla. Chris returned to his hometown of Naples after graduation to serve as assistant athletic director at First Baptist Academy, his high school alma mater.

solutions group at BlackRock Inc., a global investment management corporation. She lives in Upper East Side Manhattan, where she enjoys jogging in Central Park, attending Broadway productions and exploring New York City’s many restaurants.

Jim Kurila (17C) has been hired

by Discovery Cove in Orlando, Fla., as part of the zoology internship program. He is working toward his master’s degree in shark research.

don't forget to send your photos The next time you’re typing a status update or tweet, be sure to share with us as well.

Send your news (and digital photos!) to classnotes@berry.edu

pursue a Ph.D. in higher education administration in the near future Maxine Donnelly (16C) is pursuing a Ph.D. in English at the University of Florida.

Afzal Fazal (16C) is working as a network engineer. He also serves as volunteer facilitator at his house of prayer.

for inclusion in News

Condolences

from You. Be sure to include your class year.

Katie Truluck and Caitlyn Sumrell

Jessica Gross

Jessica Gross (17C) is a product specialist analyst for BlackRock Alternative Advisors, the hedge fund

Katie Truluck (17C) and Caitlyn Sumrell (17C) are enrolled in the Physical Therapy Doctorate Program at Augusta University (Medical College of Georgia).

BERRY COLLEGE EXTENDS SINCERE CONDOLENCES to family and friends of the following alumni and former faculty/staff. This list includes

notices received June 21 – Oct. 31, 2017.

1930s

Willette Patton Hooper (38c) of Morganton, Ga., April 30, 2016.

1940s

Loral Lummus Dirk (40H) of Woodway, Texas, June 22, 2016.

James Herbert Andress (42H) of Spanish Fort, Ala., Nov. 24, 2016.

Harry W. Evans (42H) of Canton, Ga., May 5, 2017.

J.T. Hollingshed (42H) of Kennesaw, Ga., June 21, 2016.

Audrey Stone Peek (42H) of Mount Pleasant, S.C., Nov. 19, 2016.

James H. Weaver (42H) of Wilmington, S.C., April 19, 2016.

James A. Adkins (43H) of Birmingham, Ala., Nov. 8, 2016.

Lee S. Buchan (43H) of Aberdeen, N.C., May 13, 2016.

Louise Lee Hill (43c) of Hibbing, Minn., Aug. 17, 2017.

Sara Sloane Horne (43H) of Miami, Nov. 15, 2016.

Ruth McClellan Warren (43C) of Thomaston, Ga., March 10, 2017.

Mary Holland Chester (44H) of Statesboro, Ga., May 27, 2016.

Anne Sellers Hunter (44H) of Vero Beach, Fla., March 21, 2017.

Eleanor Koenig Rogers (44H) of Kingston, Tenn., March 15, 2017.

Martha Thompson Weaver (44c) of Fairburn, Ga., Nov. 28, 2016.

Mary Moody Bridges (45H) of Alexander City, Ala., June 12, 2016.

LaVonne G. Lundell (45H) of Maryville, Tenn., March 1, 2017.

Betty Hix Elrod (46H) of Trion, Ga., Nov. 10, 2016.

Lee H. Evans (46H) of Dahlonega, Ga., July 3, 2017.

Melba Fite Gray (46H) of Conyers, Ga., Feb. 15, 2016.

Doris Parks Johnson (46H) of Cocoa, Fla., May 13, 2016.

Catherine Boggs Moseley (46c) of Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 20, 2017.

William H. Thompson (46H) of Chickamauga, Ga., Aug. 20, 2016.

Bebe Housen Meng (47H) of Hatchechubbee, Ala., Nov. 8, 2016.

Helen Greeson Stewart (47H) of Calhoun, Ga., April 10, 2017.

Alton Franklin Everett (48H) of Armuchee, Ga., June 24, 2017.

William T. Pursley Sr. (48H) of Wichita Falls, Texas, Nov. 21, 2016.

Edna P. Robbins (48H) of Zephyrhills, Fla., Feb. 22, 2016.

Winona Early Brooks (49H, 52C) of Tallahassee, Fla., July 9, 2016.

Thomas Walter Jones Jr. (49C) of Armuchee, Ga., July 11, 2017.

A.C. Thompson (49H, 53C) of Columbus, Miss., Sept. 9, 2017.

A. Ruth Higdon Tyler (49H) of Baton Rouge, La., Nov. 23, 2016. continued on page 30

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2017-18

29

THANK YOU

Condolences continued…

Harvey Charles Wright (49H) of Cartersville, Ga., Aug. 7, 2016.

1950s Jacquelyn York Dewalt (50C) of Huntsville, Ala., Sept. 9, 2017.

Jimmy Higdon (50H) of Resaca, Ga., Oct. 5, 2016.

Robbie Baskin Outen (50C) of Pendleton, S.C., Aug. 11, 2017.

E. Gloria Rumph (50C) of Bozeman, Utah, Nov. 12, 2016.

Martha Moses Jackson (51C) of Athens, Ga., June 18, 2017.

Betty Jean Hurst Little (51H) of Riverview, Mich., Oct. 5, 2017.

Patricia Jackson Miller (51H) of Aragon, Ga., Oct. 24, 2016.

Gwendolyn Parrish Mullis (51C) of Macon, Ga., Sept. 29, 2016.

Harold R. Pullen (51c) of Pavo, Ga., April 29, 2017.

Jonnie Hardwick Wood (51C) of St. Simons Island, Ga., Jan. 17, 2016.

Billy R. Blocker Sr. (52C) of Acworth, Ga., June 30, 2017.

Emma Brooks Dennis (52c) of Atlanta, Jan. 22, 2016.

Jack Lamar McDaniel (52c) of Gainesville, Ga., July 1, 2017.

J. Paul Rowe (52H) of Newton, N.C., April 9, 2016.

David R. Bryan (53H) of Tallapoosa, Ga., April 18, 2016.

Yvonne Clifton Helton (53H) of Memphis, Tenn., Jan. 31, 2017.

Edna Clark Camp (54H) of Marietta, Ga., Sept. 23, 2017.

Charles Edwin Houston (54C) of Huntsville, Ala., July 5, 2017.

Thomas P. Way Sr. (54c) of Ludowici, Ga., Feb. 9, 2016.

Joe E. Winslett (54H) of Sylacauga, Ala., April 16, 2017.

Joyce Tollerson Lane (55c) of Warm Springs, Ga., March 16, 2017.

Carolyn Simmons Parrott (55c) of Meansville, Ga., Aug. 13, 2016.

Archie D. Weeks (55c) of Lexington, Ky., Aug. 22, 2017.

Harold D. Farmer (56H) of Marietta, Ga., Sept. 14, 2017.

Gene T. Warren (58C) of Bowdon, Ga., July 14, 2017.

1960s

Charles Mercer Smith (61H) of Buffalo Gap, Texas, Aug. 30, 2017.

Jerry Lee Stewart (61c) of Russellville, Ala., Sept. 6, 2017.

Curtis Lee Nail Sr. (62C) of Madison, Ala., March 15, 2017.

Barbara Sue Holbert (63C) of Calhoun, Ga., May 15, 2017.

Martha Britton Dunson (66C) of Rome, Sept. 17, 2017.

William Maynard Babb (67C) of Abilene, Texas, Sept. 8, 2017.

Patricia Jackson Vaughn (67C) of Dacula, Ga., July 8, 2017.

Carl Jason Clements (68C) of Ormond Beach, Fla., Oct. 25, 2016.

David Roy Forrester (69C) of Demorest, Ga., June 1, 2017.

1970s Brenda Young Brisendine (71C) of Fort Payne, Ala., Aug. 12, 2017.

T. Edwin Stinson (71C) of Jacksonville, Fla., March 20, 2017.

Barry C. Sutherland (71C) of Box Springs, Ga., April 15, 2017.

David B. Goewey (72C) of Columbia, S.C., Feb. 28, 2016.

Doris Shields Liang (75C) of Atlanta, Feb. 5, 2017.

Margaret Ann Ingram (76C) of Rome, Sept. 27, 2017.

Jeanette Harris Mize (77C, 79G) of Rome, July 6, 2017.

1980s Christopher D. Bouchard (80C) of Woodstock, Ga., Sept. 26, 2017.

Lisa Bridges Leskosky (82C) of Paducah, Ky., Oct. 11, 2017.

1990s Yodit T. Alemu (93C) of Frederick, Md., July 9, 2017.

Chanda Agan Thomas (99C) of Conyers, Ga., Jan. 28, 2017.

2000s Jason Fleming Burroughs (02c) of Americus, Ga., Feb. 10, 2017.

Judith Ann Van Dervort (08c) of Summerville, Ga., May 19, 2016.

Former Faculty/Staff

Thank y ou Glenda Hardiman Hall (60c) of Madison, Ala., Oct. 28, 2017.

Marcia Peacock Martin (60c) of Montgomery, Ala., Oct. 27, 2017.

Mary Frances Harrington McFarland (60C) of Alachua, Fla., Sept. 11, 2017.

Martha Van Landingham Smith Pezzulla (61C) of San Jose, Calif., Sept. 27, 2017.

James M. Burdette of Rome, Oct. 5, 2017.

In Memoriam

In recent months, the Berry community has mourned the untimely deaths of three students, Theodore William Howard (21c), Joseph James McDaniel (19c) and David Christopher Shankles (20c), as well the sudden loss of incoming freshman Mason M. Tompkins, who died last summer.

SPECIAL THANKS FOR: Memory and Honor Gifts and Gifts to Named Scholarships and Work Endowments. The following gifts were made in memory or honor of an individual and/or to named scholarships or work endowments June 21 – Oct. 31, 2017.

MEMORY GIFTS

Mr. Dennis T. “Tony” Adams Charles Downey (64A) Miss Betty Barbour Joyce Pierce Fitzgerald (68c) Mr. Reginald M. Barrineau Diane Presley Barrineau (71C) Mr. and Mrs. Dan U. Biggers George Donigian (74C) Mr. Loy Herschel Blackwell Charles Downey (64A) Mr. Billy R. Blocker Sr. William and Glenda Bell Wayne Blocker Jackie Bowers Nathaniel Bowers Charles Cooper (52C)

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Martha Dodd McConnell (45H, 50C) George Pettett Christopher Price Louise Reese Mr. J.W. Boyd Gerald (64C) and Sonya Terry (67C) Boyd Mrs. Louise Paul Brown Horace Brown (39C) Mr. James M. Burdette Ouida Word Dickey (50C) Mrs. Shannon Gregory Burgess Felicia Walkup (97C) Dr. D. Dean Cantrell George Donigian (74C) Tim Howard (82C)

Dr. N. Gordon Carper Jeff Cavender (90C) Mr. Ray C. Cates Lynne Oswald Forsyth Technical Community College Ms. Kirsten L. Davis Ted Noble (92C) Mrs. Lou Agnes Wright De Ramus Charles Downey (64A) Mrs. Jane Coker Dunbar Shirley Jarrett Judith Nye Vernice M. Steele Mr. John W. Eubanks Sr. Charles Downey (64A) Mr. Ralph E. Farmer Neil Gentry (53C)

Mr. Robert E. Fleming Kaye Fleming Ms. Laura Ford Gerald (64C) and Sonya Terry (67C) Boyd Dr. Thomas W. Gandy Theda Nettles Gandy (43C) Mr. T.A. Geraldson Alan and Evelyn Geraldson (74C, 97G) Storey Mr. Jorge Luis Gonzalez Ondina Santos Gonzalez Mr. George E. Griffiths Faylene Wright Mrs. Anne Sims Hawkins Jim Hawkins (49H, 53C)

THANK YOU

Mr. Christopher N. Holcombe Mike (92C) and Margaret Crego Mike Welsh (91C) Rear Adm. and Mrs. Lewis A. Hopkins Aaron and Amy Britt Mrs. Margaret Ann Ingram Ouida Word Dickey (50C) Mrs. Martha Moses Jackson Elizabeth B. Magner Mr. Thomas Walter Jones Jr. Ouida Word Dickey (50C) Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Stanley Riner Janice Riner Allagood (58C) Dr. William Harden Robison III Sheilah Robison Shealy (80C, 84G) Dr. Marion A. Sanders Bobbie Brown Sanders (53C) Dr. R. Allen Scott Holly Dean Lynch (95C) Mr. E. Malcolm Sellers Charles Downey (64A) Mr. David Christopher Shankles Mr. and Mrs. Danny P. Bensley Mr. and Mrs. Allen Bradley Mr. and Mrs. Teddy Clark Virginia Daley Michael and Pamela Hux Davis Ryan Fan Nancy Grossberg Mr. and Mrs. John Richard Heerema Debbie Heida Samantha P. Hodge Nancy L. Holstad Steven W. Mallett Mr. and Mrs. Keith A. Mandrell Kim Terrell Melton (04C, 06G) Kevin and LeeAnne Mischler Lynne Montague Emily Ann Perry Tralucia Powell Mr. and Mrs. Bill D. Reeve Jenna Settle Lisa Settle Tamatha Tibbits James and Margaret Westbrook Emily White Central Baptist Church of Bearden, Tenn.

Mr. Dallas Stewart Jim Ann White Stewart (48H, 51C) Mr. Mason Mario Tomkins Brandi Calhoun Diamond (93C) Mr. and Mrs. Clinton Tutterow Roger Tutterow (84C) Mr. Gene T. Warren Morris (58C) and Lecy Garner (59c) Brunson Harlan (58C) and Doris Reynolds (57C) Chapman Janice Duncan Jane P. Strickland Bill (57C) and Mary Charles Lambert (58C) Traynham Mr. Ronald E. Williamson Michael Wacker (82A) and Courtney St. John-Wacker (83A, 87C, 89G)

MEMORY GIFTS TO NAMED SCHOLARSHIPS

Perry Anthony Memorial Scholarship Joy Anthony Morrow (54c) Emily Anthony Mullis (53C)

Natalie Bates Giving Tree Endowed Award Steve and Debbie Hester Hal (08C) and Brittany Page (10C) McCool Christina Snyder Ware (09C) A. Milton and Jo Ann Chambers Endowed Scholarship Starr Wright Boylan (93C) Allyson Chambers (80C, 84G) Terry Frix (86C) Susan Hunt Harris (90C) Rani Partridge Woodrow (88C) Jorge A. and Ondina S. Gonzalez Family Endowed Scholarship Georgette deFriesse Carlos (79A) and Marilyn Gonzalez Larry A. Green Memorial Scholarship Janna Johnson (81C) Melanie Green Jones Philip (86c) and Debbie Slusarz (87C) Kimsey Dr. Peter A. Lawler Endowed Scholarship Genny Arp Alexander (87C) Lynne Tripp Allen (87C) Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Alulis Jonathan Atkins Matt Barrett (97C) Anja and Richard Buckwalter Marilyn Casha Dianne Colquitt Basil and Paula Danskin Englis Bob Frank Bill and Faye (92c) Fron Michael Garland (84C) Debbie Heida Jeffrey Horn (87C) Paul and Rhonda Corley (87C) Jagus Joseph Janci Allison Brock Jones (87C) Rufus (75C) and Mary Anne Schimmelmann (75c) Massey Stacie McEntyre (87C) Paul (86C) and Anne Selman (85C) Raybon Ray (83C) and Marina Garrison (83C) Robertson Rosely Stronski Becky Moore White (82C) Rick Woodall (93C) Percy Marchman Scholarship Emily Marchman (75C) Frank Miller Memorial Scholarship Bill (65C) and Betty Rozar (65C) Banks Alexander Whyte Whitaker III Endowed Scholarship Whit (81C) and Maria Crego (85c) Whitaker Jeff Wingo Memorial Scholarship Janna Johnson (81C) Kay Wingo Craig Allyn Wofford Scholarship Elaine Foster

HONOR GIFTS

Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Baker Bob Baker (79C) Mr. Justin Ball and Mr. Grant Ball Jerrime and Shannon Cooke Ball Ms. Hannah Ruth Billiard William and Jennifer Billiard Dr. and Mrs. Stephen R. Briggs Bettyann O’Neill

Mr. Joshua Christopher Bullock Chris and Kelley Bullock Mr. James “Jim” Earl Clark Samuel (80C) and Lisa Reibel (80C, 89G) Cash DAR – Mary Hammond Washington Chapter Ms. Cassi Lynn Culhan Bill and Terri Culhan Mrs. Shawn Carroll Darling Elaine Carroll Dr. Ouida W. Dickey Jennifer Dickey (77A, 80C) David and Lynn Dee Martin Mr. Justus James Edwards Mr. and Mrs. James E. Edwards Mr. Jonathan William Tyler Fisher Celia Fisher Mr. Samuel Shelton Forte Victor and Andrea Forte Mr. David Lloyd Galloway Chester and Donna Galloway Mr. Carson Lin Gilliam Jane Hamilton Ms. Emily Christine Grace Logan Grace Dr. Vincent M.L. Gregoire Gabriela Elias Broome (04C) Mr. David Ellington Haithcock Daniel and Yolanda Wright Haithcock Ms. Emily Lynne Hancock Nancy Camposano Ms. Debbie E. Heida Wanda Hunt Meeks (82C) Ms. Olivia Nicole Iobst Joseph and Karen Iobst Mr. Clay Johnston Steve Eubanks (63C) Ms. Anna Elizabeth Keappler Mark (82C) and Judy Howard (82C) Keappler Mr. Alexander Wayne Kirkendoll Mr. and Mrs. Michael David Kirkendoll Mr. Kevin D. Kleine Kendra Darko Parker (92C) Ms. Ashley Michele Mancuso Michele Meason Ms. Kirbi Caroline Mathews Bruce and Lisa Mathews Mr. John “Jack” Morgan Jr. John and Missy Morgan Music Department Neil Harrison (83C) Ms. Meghan Kelly O’Brien Mr. and Mrs. Patrick O’Brien Mr. Britton Kenneth Ody Michael Ody Quicker Mrs. Bettyann O’Neill Frank Barron Randy and Nancy Berry Glenn (62C) and Jena Cornell John (83C) and Elizabeth Webb (84C) Eadie Brian and Heather Erb Rick (77c) and Debra (76C) Gilbert Barry (71C) and Michele Irwin (70C) Griswell Bonnie Grizzard Debbie Heida Karen Holley Horrell (74C) Joy Padgett Johnson (73C) Mark and Anne Kaiser Jason (98C) and Renee Spurlock (97C) McMillan

Audrey Morgan Marti Sheats Perkins (67C) Brent (88C) and Gigi Ragsdale Randy and Kathy Richardson Frances Richey (83A, 87C) Pete and Carol Snyder Roberts Karilon L. Rogers Steve and Lisa Fanto (76C) Swain Fred Tharpe (68A) Marti Walstad Mr. Preston Plumley Brandi Calhoun Diamond (93C) Ms. Sara Marie Priest Mark and Kathleen Priest Dr. Robert R. Richardson Raymond (92C) and Ruth Lindsey (92C) Rodrigues Mr. David Ro Jeffrey Horn (87C) Ms. Carolyn Thompson Smith Sue Killcreas (78C) Mr. Richard Vardy Debbie Heida Sebastian Herting (06C) Ms. Catherine Ashley Williams Troy and Catherine Hendrix

HONOR GIFTS TO NAMED SCHOLARSHIPS

Julie Ann Bumpus Endowed Scholarship Tyler Carman (08C) Marcia Rary McConnell (83C) Laura Phillips Katherine Powell Jordan Shivers (05C) Carol Story Dr. Robert L. Frank Legacy Scholarship Steven Hames Genyth Travis (96C) Jerry Shelton Endowed Scholarship, funded by the Class of 1958C Billy (58C) and Carol Buchanan (56H, 58c) Blair Harlan (58C) and Doris Reynolds (57C) Chapman Ray Fewell (58C) Bobby Johnson (58C) Jerry Shelton (58C) Robert M. Skelton WinShape Scholarship Paul and Rhonda Corley (87C) Jagus Holly Brown West (88C)

OTHER GIFTS TO NAMED SCHOLARSHIPS AND WORK POSITIONS

Dr. Frank and Kathryn Adams Endowed Scholarship Frank (54H, 58C) and Kathy Adams Tina Bucher Jim Watkins African American Alumni Chapter Scholarship Tasha Toy Agriculture Alumni Endowed Scholarship Ben Willingham (66C) Pat Alderman Scholarship Pat Alderman Leo W. Anglin Memorial Scholarship Kathy Rogers Gann (91C) Jacqueline McDowell Atlanta Endowed Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Ted Noble (92C)

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Lemuel, Mary and James Banks Endowed Scholarship Theresa Kornegay Pittman (63C) Barton Mathematics Award Ray Barton (77C) Berry High Schools and Academy Work Scholarship Charles Downey (64A) Bill Harrison (64A) Cleo Leonard Ray (44H) John R. and Annabel Hodges Bertrand Endowed Scholarship Fred and J’May Rivara Dan Biggers Distinguished Actor Award Reed (77A, 82C) and Shannon Walburn (81C) Biggers Karen Baird Carter (87C) Frances Berry Bonnyman Scholarship Bonny Stanley N. Gordon Carper Endowed History Scholarship Pat Barna Holland (69C) Kathryn Roseen (76C) Daniel Sprinkle (00C) Carpet Capital Chapter Scholarship Bernice Ogle Whaley (53H) Judge Thomas A. Clark Endowed Scholarship David Sales Class of 1951C Memorial Endowed Scholarship Reg (51C) and Maxine Strickland Class of 1953H Staley/Loveday Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Joyce Maddox Sumner (55H, 59c) Class of 1954C Endowed Scholarship Jean Mitchell Sheffield (54C) Class of 1956C Endowed Scholarship Wallace McDowell (56C) Luther (56c) and Betty Arrington (56C) Rogers Kenneth (56C) and LaDonna Smitherman (56C) Strickland Joyce Jarvis Vickery (56C) Class of 1960C Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Ann Nichols Pope (60C) W.C. (60C) and Sylvia Davis (60C) Rowland Wayne Stevenson (60C) Class of 1961C Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Peter (60C) and Ernestine Davis (61C) Hoffmann Ruby Vestal Mills (61C) Class of 1963C Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Wesley (63C) and Ruth King (65C) Martin Mary Crawford Wynn (63C) Class of 1964C Campus Carrier Editor-inChief Work Endowment Joe (65C) and Nelda Parrish (64C) Ragsdale Class of 1965C Endowed Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Peggy Brodnax (65C) Charles Collins (65C) Herb Jones (65C) Wesley (63C) and Ruth King (65C) Martin Gene (65C) and Sandra Dickerson (66C) McNease Joe (56C) and Nelda Parrish (64C) Ragsdale Dallas Reynolds (65C) Billy (62H, 66C) and Marvalee Lord (65C) Townsend Class of 1966C Assistant Gardener Endowed Work Position Virginia Battles Dean (66C) Peggie Hicks Ellington (66C) Lois McAllister Hatler (66C) Phil Lane (66C)

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John Provine (66C) Billy (62H, 66C) and Marvalee Lord (65C) Townsend The estate of Daniel White (66C) Class of 1967C Endowed Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Jean Benoy Lacey (67C) Koji (65C) and Reba Nichols (67C) Yoda Class of 1969C Endowed Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Mack (69C) and Linda Godfrey John Shahan (64A, 69C) Ray Tucker (69C) George W. Cofield Memorial Scholarship Fund Dean (57C) and Clo Clark (57C) Owens Edwards Endowed Scholarship Randy Edwards (66C) Jimmy R. Fletcher Memorial Endowed Scholarship Helen Jessup Albanese (68C) Larry (68C) and Claudette West (68C) Bearden Randall (67C) and Margaret Cochran (68c) Clark Mike Cordle (68C) Joyce Pierce Fitzgerald (68c) Wayne Hawkins (68C) Marshall (68C) and Nancy Green (69C) Lewis Terry (68C) and Charlene Head (67C) Lingerfelt Emma Fears O’Neal (68C) Rethia Camp Spence (68C) Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Maggie Suarez Heimermann (94C) Charles Russell Ed and Gayle Graviett Gmyrek Scholarship Gayle Graviett Gmyrek (67C) Lyn Gresham Endowed Scholarship Tolbert Fowler (60C) Hamilton/Smith Scholarship Gary (77C) and Hermanett Pruitt (73C) Ford Jonathan Randall Hardin Endowed Scholarship Fund Bobby and Robbie (94C) Abrams Jonathan Baggett Dan (94C) and Christel Harris Boyd Dale Canada Daniel Carpenter Lee Carter (76c) Laurie Hattaway Chandler (95C) Donna Childres Amanda Cromer (12C, 16G) Penny Evans-Plants (90C) Cindy Gillespie Randy and Nita Hardin Marvin Howlett (72C) and Annette Axley Jeff Smith Kinsey Stout (03C) Monica Willingham Heneisen Service Award Laurie Hattaway Chandler (95C) Becky Musser Hosea Scholarship Paul and Margaret N. Musser Tim and Odetta Howard Endowed Scholarship Tim Howard (82C) Barbara Ballanger Hughes Scholarship Barbara Ballanger Hughes (71C) Dr. Janna S. Johnson Endowed Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Jim (85C) and Jennifer Smith (85C) Johnson H.I. “Ish” Jones Endowed Agriculture Scholarship Kerry (72C) and Gloria Noles

Kappa Delta Pi Endowed Award Mary Clement Land Management Scholarship Anonymous Steven Akers David Brearley Brad and Kimberly Bushnell Kyle Carney Vince Griffith (81C) Robert J. Puckett Jr. Jason Rogers (04c) Steve and Michelle Tart Chad Whitefield John J. Wise Ray M. and Mary Elizabeth Lee Scholarship The Ray M. and Mary Elizabeth Lee Foundation Fred H. and Mary Loveday Endowed Scholarship Richard Barley (49H) Martha! Centennial Scholarship Reg (51C) and Maxine Strickland Dr. L. Doyle Mathis Endowed Gate of Opportunity Scholarship, funded by the Class of 1958C Janice Riner Allagood (58C) Peggy Pitts Perkins (58c) Sharlene Kinser Stephens (57C) Edward Swartz (58C) Linda Mills Memorial Endowed Scholarship Stacey Spillers Amos Montgomery Scholarship Evelyn Hamilton (68C) Darcie Kemp Ivey (90C) Hubert and Minnie Willis (72C, 77G) Marsh Stacey Spillers Lee-Anda Hutchens Uter (92C) Al and Mary Nadassy Scholarship in Memory of Mrs. Ralph Farmer Imogene Patterson (58C) Mary and Al Nadassy English Scholarship Tina Bucher Mark Taylor Jim Watkins Lara Whelan Mary Finley Niedrach Endowed Scholarship Mary Finley Niedrach (75A, 97G) NSDAR Gate of Opportunity Scholarship NSDAR NSDAR Junior Membership Committee Gate of Opportunity Scholarship NSDAR Junior Membership Committee NSDAR Scholarship Jo Anne Collins DAR – Arrowhead Valley Chapter DAR – Atlanta Chapter DAR – Barefoot Beach Chapter DAR – Colonel William Wallace Chapter DAR – Fort Severn Chapter DAR – Hawkinsville Chapter DAR – Hic-A-Sha-Ba-Ha Chapter DAR – Indiana State Society DAR – Lady Washington Chapter DAR – Massy Harbison-Fort Hand Chapter DAR – Ohio Society DAR – Pennsylvania State Society DAR – San Antonio de Bexar Chapter DAR – Winema Chapter Bobby Patrick Endowed Scholarship Mary Camp Patrick (69C) Dr. Bob Pearson Scholarship Scott and Fay Neal Kelley Bennett Poydence Endowed Scholarship Dan and Kelley Poydence

Amber T. Prince Memorial Scholarship Janna Johnson (81C) Jamie (97C) and Elisha Wright (98C, 04G) Lindner Vesta Salmon Service Scholarship Allen and Maki Tokiwa Reynolds Angie Reynolds Silver & Blue Save a Student Scholarship A total of 137 current students and recent graduates contributed to this scholarship through Berry’s Silver & Blue student philanthropy program.

Visit berry.edu/silverandblue/donors to see their names.

Tom and Barbara Slocum Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Thomas and Barbara Slocum Mary Alta Sproull Endowed Math Scholarship Kenneth Whitten (54C) Robert Earl Stafford Scholarship Myra Stafford Pryor Charitable Trust William B. Stokely Jr. Scholarship Shelley Stokely Przewrocki (95C) Bill and Kay Stokely The William B. Stokely Jr. Foundation Maxine Strickland Endowed Nursing Scholarship Anonymous Deborah Hill Reg (51C) and Maxine Strickland Student Scholarships Kristen Diliberto-Macaluso Jean Hansard (76C) Wayne Howard (72A, 76C) Betty Brown Jones (55C) Timothy Larsen John (54H) and Debra Lie-Nielsen Michael Maney (98C) Julie Patrick Nunnelly (88C, 00G) Henry Oddi Vicki Newton Platt (72c) Matt Ragan (98C) and Shelly DriskellRagan (96C) Trevor Scoggins (94C) Bill (68C) and Avis Cordle (57C) Thornton Georgia Independent College Association Study Abroad Award Christopher Borda Vincent Gregoire Larry and Betty Jane Taylor Endowed Scholarship Larry and Betty Jane Taylor The Trey Tidwell Experience: A Scholarship for Musical Discovery Mandy Tidwell (93C) Microsoft Corp.

Ted Touchstone Endowed Work Position Beth Earnst (93C) Troy/Gardner Endowed Art History Award Virginia Troy Courtney M. Urquhart Endowed Communication Scholarship Randy and Judy Urquhart James Van Meerten Study Abroad Scholarship Jim Van Meerten (70C) Lettie Pate Whitehead Scholars Fund Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation Work Week Endowed Service Award Reg (51C) and Maxine Strickland Zellars Family Scholarship Randy Tibbals (79C) John Zellars John Zellars Jr. Foundation

. . . a century of tradition . . . photos by BRANT SANDERLIN and student LINDSEY CAMPBELL

. . . . . . . olympics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . grand march & picnic . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

...........

grinding corn at the old mill

marthapalooza

.....

. . . . . . . reunions . . . . . . . pennies for martha . . . . . . . . .

courtesy of Colleen Curlee (16C)

BERRY MAGAZINE • WINTER 2017-18

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PRSRT NONPROFIT MKT MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID ATLANTA, GA 30304 PERMIT NO. 2552

Berry magazine P.O. Box 495018 Mount Berry, GA 30149-5018

World Series? Wow! Houston Astros pitcher Collin McHugh (09c) reacts after striking out a Los Angeles Dodgers batter in Game 5 of the 2017 World Series. The Astros came out on top in the Fall Classic, and McHugh became the first Viking to earn a World Series ring. Photo courtesy of the Houston Astros.